Cited by 253Neural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesDecision-Making and Behavioral EconomicsNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 97 of the 99 references it cites were found in a registry or an index, and 1 are not checked yet; none of the 47 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Adolescent impatience decreases with increased frontostriatal connectivity

Open access
van den Bos, Wouter, Rodriguez, Christian A., Schweitzer, Julie B., McClure, Samuel M.·2015·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Abstract

Significance: Compared with children and adults, teens and young adults often exhibit greater impulsivity and corresponding increases in emergency room visits, accidents from drug or alcohol use, and increased mortality risk. However, it remains poorly understood how increased impulsivity during adolescence may be explained in terms of brain and cognitive development. We focused on impatience, a central component of impulsiveness. We relate impatient behavior on a decision-making task to changes in connectivity within the brain’s frontostriatal circuitry. Our results suggest that relative future orientation, not sensitivity to immediate rewards, determines adolescent impatience. These findings may help to design interventions to prevent the detrimental effects of adolescent impulsiveness and serve as a template for understanding neurodevelopmental disorders.

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Overview

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TL;DR

In a cross-sectional multimodal MRI study of 50 participants aged 8–25, adolescents were more impatient on an intertemporal choice task and reported less future orientation, but not more present hedonism, than young adults. Stronger right dorsolateral prefrontal–medial striatal structural connectivity was associated with greater negative functional coupling during larger-later choices and lower discount rates, suggesting increased control and future-oriented thought drive age-related reductions in impatience.

Key findings

  • Discount rates declined with age across 8–25 y (linear: r = 0.46, P < 0.001; asymptotic: r = 0.48, P < 0.001), best described by an asymptotic trajectory with accelerated decline in early adolescence. Future orientation increased with age (linear: r = 0.42, P < 0.005; asymptotic: r = 0.44, P < 0.004), while present hedonism showed no age-related change (all P > 0.45). Future orientation correlated with more patient choices (r = −0.42, P < 0.005); present hedonism did not (r = 0.22, P = 0.17), though it did when controlling for age (r = 0.29, P < 0.05).
  • Right medial striatum–right dlPFC tract strength was negatively correlated with log k (r = −0.47, P < 0.001); similar trends were found for right vlPFC (r = −0.48, P = 0.007) and left vlPFC (r = −0.37, P = 0.049). Amygdala tract strength was not initially associated with discounting (r = 0.26, P < 0.11) but was positively correlated with discount rates when controlling for age (r = 0.65, P < 0.001).
  • Right dlPFC showed increased negative coupling with medial striatum during decision versus baseline (t(47) = −7.321, P < 0.001), and this negative coupling was greater for larger-later versus smaller-sooner choices (t(47) = 6.63, P < 0.001). The functional connectivity difference correlated with structural connectivity (r = 0.42, P < 0.004) and discount rates (r = 0.41, P < 0.005). A serial mediation model supported an indirect path from age through structural and functional connectivity with right dlPFC to discounting (95% CI 0.05, 0.22).
  • Specificity analyses: stop-signal reaction time decreased with age (linear: r = 0.55, P < 0.001; asymptotic: r = 0.58, P < 0.001), was not related to delay discounting (r = 0.25, P = 0.23), and correlated with right IFG–striatum tract strength (r = −0.31, P = 0.045) but not right dlPFC–striatum structural or functional connectivity (r = −0.15, P = 0.33; r = 0.06, P = 0.66).

Methods

  • Fifty participants (26 females), ages 8–25 y (M = 16.76, SD = 4.55), completed a delay-discounting task with 130 intertemporal choices in and outside the scanner, the Zimbardo Time Perspective Index (present hedonism and future orientation), a stop-signal task, Raven Standard Progressive Matrices, and pubertal status on a subset.
  • DTI probabilistic tractography used striatal seed masks and 10 a priori target regions; striatal voxels were classified by highest connection probability, and tract strength was correlated with log k. fMRI during delay discounting was analyzed with PPI using functionally defined right dlPFC/right vlPFC ROIs and structurally defined striatal segments.
  • Analyses used robust linear regressions testing linear, adolescent-peak, and asymptotic age trends; Bayesian model comparison; a Bonferroni-corrected threshold of P < 4.545 × 10⁻³ for 11 tracts; and serial mediation via Hayes’ PROCESS.

Limitations

  • Stated: the authors found no support for immediate-reward sensitivity driving adolescent impatience and note this may be due to the low affective content of the stimuli; they suggest social or emotional contexts may reveal reward-sensitivity effects.
  • Stated: probabilistic tractography and PPI cannot resolve the direction of connectivity, so the top-down control interpretation needs further testing, for example with dynamic causal modeling. Impulsivity is multidimensional, and intertemporal choice taps mainly impatience; more tasks and a wider age range are needed.
  • Evident from the text: the cross-sectional design and mediation analysis cannot establish causal developmental direction; the modest sample (n = 50) and pubertal data available only in a subset further limit power and generalizability.

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Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1073/pnas.1423095112

Cites

97 of 98 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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Claims the paper makes

43 Own result · 31 Not checked yet · 16 Own interpretation · 15 Own method · 1 No basis given

Verify all 47 references — free account
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 15
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 26
38 of 38
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Choices follow a hyperbolic discount function.

    “assuming a hyperbolic discount function”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    The choice function assumes each individual chooses the option with the highest subjective value with highest probability.

    “The choice function assumed that each individual will choose the option with the highest subjective value (which in many cases could be SS choice) with highest probability.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    The inverse temperature parameter represents response noise.

    “The inverse temperature is a free parameter in the choice model that represents response noise.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Developmental changes in structural connectivity indicate the functional effectiveness of axonal connections.

    “it can be assumed that developmental changes in structural connectivity provide information about the functional effectiveness of axonal connections.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Age-related differences observed cross-sectionally in connectivity and behavior reflect developmental change over adolescence.

    “Process model linking age related differences in brain structure, function, and behavior.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The serial mediation model's causal ordering from age through structural connectivity and functional connectivity to discounting is valid.

    “We generated a serial mediator model that tries to capture the relation between age and discounting with two sequential mediators: structural and functional connectivity with the right dlPFC (Fig. 5).”
6 of 6

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  • Consistentt(47) = -0.92reported p = .83 · recomputed p = .362

    “t (47) = -0.92, p = .83”

    The paper states a correction for multiple tests

1 of 1

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Metadata

Authors
van den Bos, W., Rodriguez, C. A., Schweitzer, J. B., & McClure, S. M.
Affiliations
  • Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, 14197 Berlin, Germany;
  • Stanford University (US)
  • University of California, Davis (US)
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2015-06-22
Volume
112
Issue
29
Pages
E3765-74
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
OpenAlex
W2107416685
Cited by
253
References
99
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 35 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 59 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 5
FWCI
22.24
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • U.S. Public Health Service (R01 091068)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH091068)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
Keywords
impatience, impulsivity, adolescence, frontostriatal connectivity, intertemporal choice, discounting, striatum, future orientation, developmental changes, structural connectivity, functional connectivity
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Child, Choice Behavior, Female, Humans, Impulsive Behavior, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Neural Pathways, Reward, Task Performance and Analysis, Neostriatum, Young Adult, Diffusion Tensor Imaging

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