Teenagers with thinner cortex in particular brain regions are more impulsive in a decision-making task than teens with thicker cortex, according to a large correlational study of adolescents. The results suggest that individual differences in brain structure could be used to identify youth at higher risk of making dangerous choices.
In a previous study of adults, cortical thickness was found to be associated with a preference for small, immediate rewards over larger, delayed rewards. This trait, known as delay discounting, is a measure of impulsivity that reflects the decreasing value of a reward the longer it takes to receive it.
Marieta Pehlivanova, Joseph Kable, Theodore Satterthwaite and colleagues studied whether this relationship between cortical thickness and reward preference holds true for teens, whose brains are undergoing dramatic structural changes.
Cortical Thickness
The researchers analyzed behavioral and neuroimaging data collected from 427 boys and girls (ages 9.3-24.3) who made hypothetical choices between receiving smaller amounts of money immediately or larger sums up to six months later.
The thickness of 19 structural brain networks, which included regions involved in value-based decision-making, was related to the degree of delay discounting, with a thinner cortex associated with greater delay discounting.
Cortical thickness predicted teens’ delay discounting above and beyond cognitive and demographic variables, such as mother’s level of education. The brain networks that were most strongly associated with impulsive choices encompassed the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, temporal pole, and temporoparietal junction.
The research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, the Dowshen Program for Neuroscience, and the Lifespan Brain Institute at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine.
Reference:
- Marieta Pehlivanova, Daniel H. Wolf, Aristeidis Sotiras, Antonia Kaczkurkin, Tyler M. Moore, Rastko Ciric, Philip A. Cook, Angel Garcia de La Garza, Adon Rosen, Kosha Ruparel, Anup Sharma, Russell T. Shinohara, David R. Roalf, Ruben C. Gur, Christos Davatzikos, Raquel E. Gur, Joseph W. Kable, Theodore D. Satterthwaite. Diminished Cortical Thickness is Associated with Impulsive Choice in Adolescence. Journal of Neuroscience 12 February 2018, 2200-17; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2200-17.2018
Last Updated on November 25, 2023