Opendak Maya, Meyer Heidi, Callaghan Bridget L, Abramson Lior, John Shanah Rachel, Bath Kevin, Lee Francis, Tottenham Nim, Sullivan Regina
Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Transl Psychiatry. 2025 Feb 17;15(1):53. doi: 10.1038/s41398-025-03280-z.
Aberrant reward processing is common in psychiatric disorders that begin during development. However, our understanding of the early reward system is limited, due to few studies assessing reward engagement across development. Moreover, the interpretation of these findings is based primarily on our understanding of the adult reward system. Here, we argue that approaches to early reward processing must be re-framed within the context of developmental transitions. This alternate perspective takes into account unique, age-specific brain network functions that promote adaptive behaviors as environmental demands change from infancy through childhood. We survey the literature on developing reward systems and ask the following critical questions: (1) how are rewarding stimuli defined for infants and children? (2) do adult-defined neural reward circuits also support early reward behavior? and (3) how can early circuit perturbation impact infant and adult circuit function? Altogether, we argue that this developmental niche-centered framework is needed for conceptually and theoretically approaching developmental research questions, including but also extending beyond the scope of reward. Finally, this framework can help us understand how disturbance in developmental processes may ultimately manifest as pathology.
异常的奖赏处理在发育过程中开始的精神疾病中很常见。然而，由于评估整个发育过程中奖赏参与的研究较少，我们对早期奖赏系统的理解有限。此外，这些研究结果的解释主要基于我们对成人奖赏系统的理解。在这里，我们认为，早期奖赏处理的方法必须在发育转变的背景下重新构建。这种不同的观点考虑到了独特的、特定年龄的脑网络功能，这些功能随着环境需求从婴儿期到儿童期的变化而促进适应性行为。我们调查了关于发育中奖赏系统的文献，并提出以下关键问题：（1）如何为婴儿和儿童定义奖赏刺激？（2）成人定义的神经奖赏回路是否也支持早期奖赏行为？以及（3）早期回路扰动如何影响婴儿和成人的回路功能？总之，我们认为，这种以发育生态位为中心的框架对于从概念上和理论上探讨发育研究问题是必要的，包括但不限于奖赏的范围。最后，这个框架可以帮助我们理解发育过程中的干扰如何最终表现为病理学。
