Citation

Schneider S, Peters J, Bromberg U, Brassen S, Miedl SF, Banaschewski T, Barker GJ, Conrod PJ, Flor H, Garavan H, Heinz A, Ittermann B, Lathrop M, Loth E, Mann K, Martinot JL, Nees F, Paus T, Rietschel M, Robbins TW, Smolka MN, Spanagel R, Ströhle A, Struve M, Schumann G, Büchel C. Am. J. Psychiatry 2012; 169(1): 39-46.

Affiliation

University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany; Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London; Department of Psychiatry, University of Montreal, and CHU Sainte-Justine Hospital, Montreal; Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin; Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Vermont, Burlington; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Berlin; Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Berlin; Centre National de Génotypage, Evry, France; Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) Unit 1000, Imaging and Psychiatry, SHFJ CEA, University of Paris South, Orsay, France; Maison de Solenn and Department of Psychopathology and Adolescent Medicine, Paris Descartes University, Paris; MRC Social, Genetic, and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, London; Rotman Research Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto; School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom; Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal; Neurospin, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, Paris; Behavioural and Clinical Neurosciences Institute, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy and Neuroimaging Center, Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany; Department of Psychology, University of Sussex, United Kingdom.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, American Psychiatric Association)

DOI

10.1176/appi.ajp.2011.11030489

PMID

21955931

Abstract

Objective: Increased risk-taking behavior has been associated with addiction, a disorder also linked to abnormalities in reward processing. Specifically, an attenuated response of reward-related areas (e.g., the ventral striatum) to nondrug reward cues has been reported in addiction. One unanswered question is whether risk-taking preference is associated with striatal reward processing in the absence of substance abuse. Method: Functional and structural MRI was performed in 266 healthy young adolescents and in 31 adolescents reporting potentially problematic substance use. Activation during reward anticipation (using the monetary incentive delay task) and to gray matter density were measured. Risk-taking bias was assessed by the Cambridge Gamble Task. Results: With increasing risk-taking bias, the ventral striatum showed decreased activation bilaterally during reward anticipation. Voxel-based morphometry showed that greater risk-taking bias was also associated with and partially mediated by lower gray matter density in the same structure. The decreased activation was also observed when participants with virtually any substance use were excluded. The group with potentially problematic substance use showed greater risk taking as well as lower striatal activation relative to matched comparison subjects from the main sample. Conclusions: Risk taking and functional and structural properties of the reward system in adolescents are strongly linked prior to a possible onset of substance abuse, emphasizing their potential role in the predisposition to drug abuse.

Language: en