Adolescent Impatience Decreases with Increased Frontostriatal Connectivity

Overview

Journal Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Specialty Science

Date 2015 Jun 24

PMID 26100897

Citations 99

Authors

Wouter van den Bos

Christian A Rodriguez

Julie B Schweitzer

Samuel M McClure

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Adolescence is a developmental period associated with an increase in impulsivity. Impulsivity is a multidimensional construct, and in this study we focus on one of the underlying components: impatience. Impatience can result from (i) disregard of future outcomes and/or (ii) oversensitivity to immediate rewards, but it is not known which of these evaluative processes underlie developmental changes. To distinguish between these two causes, we investigated developmental changes in the structural and functional connectivity of different frontostriatal tracts. We report that adolescents were more impatient on an intertemporal choice task and reported less future orientation, but not more present hedonism, than young adults. Developmental increases in structural connectivity strength in the right dorsolateral prefrontal tract were related to increased negative functional coupling with the striatum and an age-related decrease in discount rates. Our results suggest that mainly increased control, and the integration of future-oriented thought, drives the reduction in impatience across adolescence.

Citing Articles

A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Investigation of Hot and Cool Executive Functions in Reward and Competition.

Lin H, Fung H, Wang Y, Ho R, Chen S Sensors (Basel). 2025; 25(3).

PMID: 39943445 PMC: 11820429. DOI: 10.3390/s25030806.

Development of Self-Concept in Childhood and Adolescence: How Neuroscience Can Inform Theory and Vice Versa.

Crone E, van Drunen L Hum Dev. 2025; 68(5-6):255-271.

PMID: 39816529 PMC: 11734892. DOI: 10.1159/000539844.

Assessing biomarkers of remission in female patients with anorexia nervosa (REMANO): a protocol for a prospective cohort study with a nested case-control study using clinical, neurocognitive, biological, genetic, epigenetic and neuroimaging markers....

Duriez P, Tolle V, Ramoz N, Kimmel E, Charron S, Viltart O BMJ Open. 2024; 14(6):e077260.

PMID: 38925688 PMC: 11208877. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-077260.

Growing Up Together in Society (GUTS): A team science effort to predict societal trajectories in adolescence and young adulthood.

Crone E, Bol T, Braams B, de Rooij M, Franke B, Franken I Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2024; 67:101403.

PMID: 38852381 PMC: 11214182. DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101403.

Parental warmth buffers the negative impact of weaker fronto-striatal connectivity on early adolescents' academic achievement.

Yang B, Zhou Z, Chen Y, Devakonda V, Cai T, Lee T J Res Adolesc. 2024; 35(1):e12949.

PMID: 38717122 PMC: 11758458. DOI: 10.1111/jora.12949.

References

Olson E, Hooper C, Collins P, Luciana M . Adolescents' performance on delay and probability discounting tasks: contributions of age, intelligence, executive functioning, and self-reported externalizing behavior. Pers Individ Dif. 2008; 43(7):1886-1897. PMC: 2083651. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2007.06.016. View

Somerville L, Casey B . Developmental neurobiology of cognitive control and motivational systems. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2010; 20(2):236-41. PMC: 3014528. DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2010.01.006. View

Duckworth A, Seligman M . Self-discipline outdoes IQ in predicting academic performance of adolescents. Psychol Sci. 2005; 16(12):939-44. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2005.01641.x. View

Tziortzi A, Haber S, Searle G, Tsoumpas C, Long C, Shotbolt P . Connectivity-based functional analysis of dopamine release in the striatum using diffusion-weighted MRI and positron emission tomography. Cereb Cortex. 2013; 24(5):1165-77. PMC: 3977617. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhs397. View

Crosbie J, Arnold P, Paterson A, Swanson J, Dupuis A, Li X . Response inhibition and ADHD traits: correlates and heritability in a community sample. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2013; 41(3):497-507. PMC: 3600128. DOI: 10.1007/s10802-012-9693-9. View

Crone E . Executive functions in adolescence: inferences from brain and behavior. Dev Sci. 2009; 12(6):825-30. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00918.x. View

Christakou A, Brammer M, Rubia K . Maturation of limbic corticostriatal activation and connectivity associated with developmental changes in temporal discounting. Neuroimage. 2010; 54(2):1344-54. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.08.067. View

Bedard A, Nichols S, Barbosa J, Schachar R, Logan G, Tannock R . The development of selective inhibitory control across the life span. Dev Neuropsychol. 2002; 21(1):93-111. DOI: 10.1207/S15326942DN2101_5. View

Peper J, Mandl R, Braams B, de Water E, Heijboer A, Koolschijn P . Delay discounting and frontostriatal fiber tracts: a combined DTI and MTR study on impulsive choices in healthy young adults. Cereb Cortex. 2012; 23(7):1695-702. PMC: 3673180. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhs163. View

10.

Somerville L, Hare T, Casey B . Frontostriatal maturation predicts cognitive control failure to appetitive cues in adolescents. J Cogn Neurosci. 2010; 23(9):2123-34. PMC: 3131482. DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2010.21572. View

11.

Crone E, Dahl R . Understanding adolescence as a period of social-affective engagement and goal flexibility. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2012; 13(9):636-50. DOI: 10.1038/nrn3313. View

12.

Johnson M . Interactive specialization: a domain-general framework for human functional brain development?. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2012; 1(1):7-21. PMC: 6987575. DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2010.07.003. View

13.

Steinbeis N, Haushofer J, Fehr E, Singer T . Development of Behavioral Control and Associated vmPFC-DLPFC Connectivity Explains Children's Increased Resistance to Temptation in Intertemporal Choice. Cereb Cortex. 2014; 26(1):32-42. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhu167. View

14.

Jones D, Knosche T, Turner R . White matter integrity, fiber count, and other fallacies: the do's and don'ts of diffusion MRI. Neuroimage. 2012; 73:239-54. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.06.081. View

15.

Soreni N, Crosbie J, Ickowicz A, Schachar R . Stop signal and Conners' continuous performance tasks: test--retest reliability of two inhibition measures in ADHD children. J Atten Disord. 2009; 13(2):137-43. DOI: 10.1177/1087054708326110. View

16.

Haber S, Knutson B . The reward circuit: linking primate anatomy and human imaging. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2009; 35(1):4-26. PMC: 3055449. DOI: 10.1038/npp.2009.129. View

17.

Lamm C, Benson B, Guyer A, Perez-Edgar K, Fox N, Pine D . Longitudinal study of striatal activation to reward and loss anticipation from mid-adolescence into late adolescence/early adulthood. Brain Cogn. 2014; 89:51-60. PMC: 4113563. DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2013.12.003. View

18.

Steinberg L, Graham S, OBrien L, Woolard J, Cauffman E, Banich M . Age differences in future orientation and delay discounting. Child Dev. 2009; 80(1):28-44. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01244.x. View

19.

Reynolds B . A review of delay-discounting research with humans: relations to drug use and gambling. Behav Pharmacol. 2006; 17(8):651-67. DOI: 10.1097/FBP.0b013e3280115f99. View

20.

Voorn P, Vanderschuren L, Groenewegen H, Robbins T, Pennartz C . Putting a spin on the dorsal-ventral divide of the striatum. Trends Neurosci. 2004; 27(8):468-74. DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2004.06.006. View