Contributions of Reward Sensitivity to Ventral Striatum Activity Across Adolescence and Early Adulthood.

ABSTRACT: It was examined how ventral striatum responses to rewards develop across adolescence and early adulthood and how individual differences in state- and trait-level reward sensitivity are related to these changes. Participants (aged 8-29 years) were tested across three waves separated by 2 years (693 functional MRI scans) in an accelerated longitudinal design. The results confirmed an adolescent peak in reward-related ventral striatum, specifically nucleus accumbens, activity. In early to mid-adolescence, increases in reward activation were related to trait-level reward drive. In mid-adolescence to early adulthood decreases in reward activation were related to decreases in state-level hedonic reward pleasure. This study demonstrates that state- and trait-level reward sensitivity account for r

SUBMITTER: Schreuders E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5969258 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature