Maturation of limbic frontostriatal activation and connectivity associated with developmental changes in temporal discounting

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Maturation of limbic frontostriatal activation and connectivity associated with developmental changes in temporal discounting M. Brammer1, A. Christakou1, 2* and K. Rubia1 1 King’s College London, Institute of Psychiatry, United Kingdom 2 University of Reading, Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics and Department of Psychology, United Kingdom Temporal discounting quantifies the ability to refrain from preference of immediate rewards, in favour of delayed, larger rewards. This ability to delay gratification develops slowly into adulthood. We investigated the neural maturation that accompanies the previously observed age-related behavioural changes in discounting, from early adolescence into mid-adulthood. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging of a hypothetical discounting task with monetary rewards delayed in the week to year range. Age-related reductions in choice impulsivity were associated with changes in activation in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), anterior cingulate cortex, ventral striatum (VS), insula, inferior temporal gyrus, and posterior parietal cortex. Limbic frontostriatal activation changes were specifically associated with age-dependent reductions in impulsivity. The maturational pattern of functional connectivity included strengthening in activation coupling between ventromedial and dorsolateral PFC, parietal and insular cortices during selection of delayed alternatives, and between vmPFC and VS during selection of immediate alternatives. We conclude that maturational mechanisms within limbic frontostriatal circuitry underlie the observed post-pubertal reductions in impulsivity with increasing age, and that this effect is dependant on increased activation coherence within a network of areas associated with discounting behaviour and inter-temporal decision-making. Conference: The 20th Annual Rotman Research Institute Conference, The frontal lobes, Toronto, Canada, 22 Mar - 26 Mar, 2010. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Frontal Lobe Development Citation: Brammer M, Christakou A and Rubia K (2010). Maturation of limbic frontostriatal activation and connectivity associated with developmental changes in temporal discounting. Conference Abstract: The 20th Annual Rotman Research Institute Conference, The frontal lobes. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2010.14.00050 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 28 Jun 2010; Published Online: 28 Jun 2010. * Correspondence: A. Christakou, University of Reading, Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics and Department of Psychology, London, United Kingdom, Anastasia.Christakou@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers M. Brammer A. Christakou K. Rubia Google M. Brammer A. Christakou K. Rubia Google Scholar M. Brammer A. Christakou K. Rubia PubMed M. Brammer A. Christakou K. Rubia Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.