The Ups and Downs of Relating Nondrug Reward Activation to Substance Use Risk in Adolescents

AbstractPurpose of ReviewA wealth of epidemiological and cohort research, together with a healthy dose of anecdote, has characterized late adolescence and emerging adulthood as a time of increased substance use and other risky behaviors. This review will address whether differences between adolescents or between adolescents and other age groups in dopaminergic mesolimbic recruitment by (nondrug) rewards inferred from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) could partially explain morbidity and mortality from risky-behavior-related causes in adolescents.Recent FindingsRecent findings do not suggest a definitive directionality with regard to whether increased vs decreased mesolimbic responsiveness to nondrug rewards correlates with real-world risk-taking. Inconsistent relationships between reward activation and real-world risky behavior in these reports reflect in part methodological differences as well as conceptual differences between populations in terms of whether tepid mesolimbic recruitment by rewards is a marker of psychiatric health.SummaryThere are several potential reasons why the directionality of relationships between reward-elicited brain activation and substance use risk (specifically) might differ. These factors include differences between adolescents in histories/exposure of substance use, motivation for substance use, the component of the instrumental behavior being studied, and the cognitive demands of the incentive tasks. Systematic manipulation of these...
Source: Current Addiction Reports - Category: Addiction Source Type: research