McCormick Ethan M, Telzer Eva H
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2017 Mar;29(3):413-423. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_01061. Epub 2016 Oct 19.
Research on adolescence has largely focused on the particular biological and neural changes that place teens at risk for negative outcomes linked to increases in sensation-seeking and risky behavior. However, there is a growing interest in the adaptive function of adolescence, with work highlighting the dual nature of adolescence as a period of potential risk and opportunity. We examined how behavioral and neural sensitivity to risk and reward varies as a function of age using the Balloon Analog Risk Task. Seventy-seven children and adolescents (ages 8-17 years) completed the Balloon Analog Risk Task during an fMRI session. Results indicate that adolescents show greater learning throughout the task. Furthermore, older participants showed increased neural responses to reward in the OFC and ventral striatum, increased activation to risk in the mid-cingulate cortex, as well as increased functional OFC-medial PFC coupling in both risk and reward contexts. Age-related changes in regional activity and interregional connectivity explain the link between age and increases in flexible learning. These results support the idea that adolescents' sensitivity to risk and reward supports adaptive learning and behavioral approaches for reward acquisition.
对青春期的研究主要集中在特定的生物和神经变化上，这些变化使青少年面临与寻求刺激和冒险行为增加相关的负面结果的风险。然而，人们对青春期的适应功能越来越感兴趣，研究工作强调了青春期作为一个潜在风险和机遇并存时期的双重性质。我们使用气球模拟风险任务研究了行为和神经对风险和奖励的敏感性如何随年龄变化。77名儿童和青少年（8 - 17岁）在功能磁共振成像（fMRI）实验中完成了气球模拟风险任务。结果表明，青少年在整个任务过程中表现出更强的学习能力。此外，年龄较大的参与者在眶额皮质（OFC）和腹侧纹状体对奖励的神经反应增强，在扣带中部皮质对风险的激活增加，以及在风险和奖励情境下功能磁共振成像中眶额皮质与内侧前额叶皮质（PFC）的耦合增强。区域活动和区域间连接的年龄相关变化解释了年龄与灵活学习增加之间的联系。这些结果支持了这样一种观点，即青少年对风险和奖励的敏感性有助于支持适应性学习和获取奖励的行为方式。
