Achterberg Michelle, Peper Jiska S, van Duijvenvoorde Anna C K, Mandl René C W, Crone Eveline A
Institute of Psychology, Brain and Development Laboratory, and Leiden Consortium on Individual Development, Leiden University, Leiden 2333 AK, The Netherlands, Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden 2333 AK, The Netherlands.
Institute of Psychology, Brain and Development Laboratory, and Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden 2333 AK, The Netherlands,
J Neurosci. 2016 Feb 10;36(6):1954-61. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3459-15.2016.
The ability to delay gratification increases considerably across development. Here, we test the hypothesis that this impulse control capacity is driven by increased maturation of frontostriatal circuitry using a fiber-tracking approach combined with longitudinal imaging. In total, 192 healthy volunteers between 8 and 26 years underwent diffusion tensor imaging scanning and completed a delay-discounting task twice, separated by a 2-year interval. We investigated dynamic associations between frontostriatal white matter (WM) integrity and delay of gratification skills. Moreover, we examined the predictive value of frontostriatal WM integrity for future delay of gratification skills. Results showed that delay discounting increases with age in a quadratic fashion, with greatest patience during late adolescence. Data also indicated nonlinear development of frontostriatal WM, with relative fast development during childhood and early adulthood and--on average--little change during mid-adolescence. Furthermore, the positive association between age and delay discounting was further increased in individuals with higher WM integrity of the frontostriatal tracts. Predictive analysis showed that frontostriatal WM development explained unique variance in current and future delay of gratification skills. This study adds to a descriptive relation between WM integrity and delay of gratification by showing that maturation of frontostriatal connectivity predicts changes in delay of gratification skills. These findings have implications for studies examining deviances in impulse control by showing that the developmental path between striatum and prefrontal cortex may be an important predictor for when development goes astray.
During the transition from childhood to adulthood, individuals generally show increased patience and become better in delaying gratification. The exact neural correlates of delay of gratification, however, remain poorly understood. By measuring both frontostriatal white matter (WM) integrity and delay of gratification skills at two time points, we were able to provide links for our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying this type of impulse regulation capacity. We demonstrate that the ability to delay gratification improves between childhood and young adulthood and this improvement is predicted by the integrity of frontostriatal WM connections. This study adds to a descriptive relation between WM quality and delay of gratification by showing that maturation of frontostriatal connectivity predicts improvements in delay of gratification skills.
延迟满足的能力在整个发育过程中会显著增强。在此，我们通过结合纵向成像的纤维追踪方法来检验这一假设，即这种冲动控制能力是由额纹状体回路成熟度的提高所驱动的。共有192名8至26岁的健康志愿者接受了扩散张量成像扫描，并完成了两次延迟折扣任务，两次任务间隔为两年。我们研究了额纹状体白质（WM）完整性与延迟满足技能之间的动态关联。此外，我们还检验了额纹状体WM完整性对未来延迟满足技能的预测价值。结果表明，延迟折扣随年龄呈二次方增长，在青春期后期耐心最强。数据还表明额纹状体WM呈非线性发育，在儿童期和成年早期发育相对较快，而在青春期中期平均变化不大。此外，在额纹状体束WM完整性较高的个体中，年龄与延迟折扣之间的正相关进一步增强。预测分析表明，额纹状体WM发育解释了当前和未来延迟满足技能的独特差异。这项研究通过表明额纹状体连接性的成熟预测了延迟满足技能的变化，为WM完整性与延迟满足之间的描述性关系增添了内容。这些发现对于研究冲动控制偏差具有启示意义，表明纹状体和前额叶皮质之间的发育路径可能是发育出现偏差时的一个重要预测指标。
在从童年到成年的过渡过程中，个体通常表现出更强的耐心，在延迟满足方面也做得更好。然而，延迟满足的确切神经关联仍知之甚少。通过在两个时间点测量额纹状体白质（WM）完整性和延迟满足技能，我们能够为理解这种冲动调节能力背后的神经机制提供联系。我们证明，延迟满足的能力在童年到青年成年期之间有所提高，而这种提高是由额纹状体WM连接的完整性所预测的。这项研究通过表明额纹状体连接性的成熟预测了延迟满足技能的提高，为WM质量与延迟满足之间的描述性关系增添了内容。
