Study explores how brain networks for reward processing and executive functioning evolve with age

Many psychiatric disorders are linked to altered functioning of brain networks that drive reward processing and executive functions like making decisions, taking risks, planning, and memory. But a better understanding of how these networks typically develop to support reward-related executive functions is needed. New in JNeurosci, Samuel Klein and Monica Luciana, from the University of Minnesota, led a longitudinal study to explore how brain networks for reward processing and executive functioning change as people age. 

The researchers assessed imaging data of over 150 people aged 11 to 25. They discovered changes in the strength of communication between brain regions in distinct networks from the teens into adulthood. These developmental network changes were associated with improved reward-related decision-making and executive function. In other words, "the specific networks that promote reward versus behavioral control differentiate themselves through the course of adolescence, which is a novel discovery," says Luciana. According to the researchers, their observations advance our understanding of risk-taking teens and are informative for those studying how psychopathology develops, pointing to brain networks that may function differently in these individuals.