Effects of age, sex, and puberty on neural efficiency of cognitive and motor control in adolescents

Identifying high school risk factors that forecast heavy drinking onset in understudied young adults

Heavy alcohol drinking is a major, preventable problem that adversely impacts the physical and mental health of US young adults. Studies seeking drinking risk factors typically focus on young adults who enrolled in 4-year residential college programs (4YCP) even though most high school graduates join the workforce, military, or community colleges. We examined 106 of these understudied young adults (USYA) and 453 4YCPs from the National Consortium on Alcohol and NeuroDevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA) by longitudinally following their drinking patterns for 8 years from adolescence to young adulthood. All participants were no-to-low drinkers during high school. Whereas 4YCP individuals were more likely to initiate heavy drinking during college years, USYA participants did so later. Using mental health metrics recorded during high school, machine learning forecasted individual-level risk for initiating heavy drinking after leaving high school. The risk factors differed between demographically matched USYA and 4YCP individuals and between sexes. Predictors for USYA drinkers were sexual abuse, physical abuse for girls, and extraversion for boys, whereas 4YCP drinkers were predicted by the ability to recognize facial emotion and, for boys, greater openness. Thus, alcohol prevention programs need to give special consideration to those joining the workforce, military, or community colleges, who make up the majority of this age group.

An MRI Study of Morphology, Asymmetry, and Sex Differences of Inferior Precentral Sulcus

Numerous studies utilizing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have observed sex and interhemispheric disparities in sulcal morphology, which could potentially underpin certain functional disparities in the human brain. Most of the existing research examines the precentral sulcus comprehensively, with a rare focus on its subsections. To explore the morphology, asymmetry, and sex disparities within the inferior precentral sulcus (IPCS), we acquired 3.0T magnetic resonance images from 92 right-handed Chinese adolescents. Brainvisa was used to reconstruct the IPCS structure and calculate its mean depth (MD). Based on the morphological patterns of IPCS, it was categorized into five distinct types. Additionally, we analyzed four different types of spatial relationships between IPCS and inferior frontal sulcus (IFS). There was a statistically significant sex disparity in the MD of IPCS, primarily observed in the right hemisphere. Females exhibited significantly greater asymmetry in the MD of IPCS compared to males. No statistically significant sex or hemispheric variations were identified in sulcal patterns. Our findings expand the comprehension of inconsistencies in sulcal structure, while also delivering an anatomical foundation for the study of related regions' function.

Inter-Trial Rest Interval Affects Learning Throwing Skills among Adolescents

Newly acquired motor skills can be critically driven by different rest periods during practice. Specifically, in the initial stages of motor skill acquisition, the interval between individual trials plays a pivotal role in facilitating effective motor performance, such as in the case of throwing. The objective of this research was to determine the optimal inter-trial rest period promoting efficient motor performance, focusing on two specific motor task actions. In a randomized counterbalanced cross-over research design 169 high-school students aged 14 were studied (M = 150; F = 19). In one block, participants performed 10 basketball free throws with a short rest interval (< 5 s) and 10 other throws with a long rest interval (∼50-60 s). In a second block, they threw a regular size tennis ball into a 1-m diameter circle on the floor at 6.75 m, again throwing 10 times with a short inter-trial rest interval and 10 times with a long inter-trial rest interval. The order of the rest intervals within each block was randomized and counterbalanced. With a repeated measures two-way analysis of variance, greater accuracy seemed to be associated with short intra-set rest intervals as there were significant main effects of both conditions (F1,167 = 368.0, p < 0.001, η2p = 0.271) and resting time (F1,167 = 18.6, p < 0.001, η2p = 0.192) and no significant interaction "condition by time". Fast practice was efficient independently of the complexity of the throwing task, suggesting robust support for schema theory.

Puberty and risky decision-making in male adolescents

Pubertal development is a potential trigger for increases in risk-taking behaviours during adolescence. Here, we sought to investigate the relationship between puberty and neural activation during risky decision-making in males using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Forty-seven males aged 12.5-14.5 years completed an fMRI risk-taking task (BART) and reported their tendencies for risky decision-making using a self-report questionnaire. Puberty was assessed through self-reported pubertal status and salivary testosterone levels. Testosterone concentration, but not physical pubertal status, was positively correlated with self-reported risk-taking behaviour, while neither was correlated with BART performance. Across the whole sample, participants had greater activation of the bilateral nucleus accumbens and right caudate on trials when they made a successful risky decision compared to trials when they made a safe choice or when their risky decision was unsuccessful. There was a negative correlation between pubertal stage and brain activation during unsuccessful risky decision-making trials compared within unsuccessful control trials. Males at a lower stage of pubertal development showed increased activation in the left insula, right cingulate cortex, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), right putamen and right orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) relative to more pubertally mature males during trials when they chose to take a risk and the balloon popped compared to when they watched the computer make an unsuccessful risky decision. Less pubertally mature males also showed greater activation in brain regions including the dmPFC, right temporal and frontal cortices, right OFC, right hippocampus and occipital cortex in unsuccessful risky trials compared to successful risky trials. These results suggest a puberty-related shift in neural activation within key brain regions when processing outcomes of risky decisions, which may reduce their sensitivity to negative feedback, and in turn contribute to increases in adolescent risk-taking behaviours.

The impact of pubertal DHEA on the development of visuospatial oscillatory dynamics

The adolescent brain undergoes tremendous structural and functional changes throughout puberty. Previous research has demonstrated that pubertal hormones can modulate sexually dimorphic changes in cortical development, as well as age-related maturation of the neural activity underlying cognitive processes. However, the precise impact of pubertal hormones on these functional changes in the developing human brain remains poorly understood. In the current study, we quantified the neural oscillatory activity serving visuospatial processing using magnetoencephalography, and utilized measures of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) as an index of development during the transition from childhood to adolescence (i.e., puberty). Within a sample of typically developing youth (ages 9-15), a novel association between pubertal DHEA and theta oscillatory activity indicated that less mature children exhibited stronger neural responses in higher-order prefrontal cortices during the visuospatial task. Theta coherence between bilateral prefrontal regions also increased with increasing DHEA, such that network-level theta activity became more distributed with more maturity. Additionally, significant DHEA-by-sex interactions in the gamma range were centered on cortical regions relevant for attention processing. These findings suggest that pubertal DHEA may modulate the development of neural oscillatory activity serving visuospatial processing and attention functions during the pubertal period.

The Impact of Implementing an Exergame Program on the Level of Reaction Time Optimization in Handball, Volleyball, and Basketball Players

The main aim of the present study was to implement an exergame program that uses Fitlight technology to identify the impact on motor, recognition, and cognitive reaction times in junior athletes practicing team sports: basketball, handball, and volleyball. The second aim was to identifying differences in progress of the three types of reaction time between female and male players through computerized tests. The study included 360 subjects for basketball, 130 athletes of which were 68 male subjects and 62 female subjects; for handball, 124 athletes of which 64 were male subjects and 60 female athletes; for volleyball, 106 athletes of which 48 male were subjects and 48 female athletes. Characteristics of the experimental players: average age ± SD 13.60 ± 1.07; average sports experience ± SD 6.24 ± 0.92. The research included an initial and a final test between which a program of exergames was implemented over a period of 3 months focused on optimizing human reaction times. The evaluation of the reaction times was carried out through three computer games, the results being processed in SPSS 22. The relevant results of the research: for the simple motor reaction time (MSRT), the greatest progress between tests was the volleyball group, and for women, it was the basketball group; for the recognition reaction time (RRT), the male handball group and the female basketball group recorded the greatest progress; for the cognitive reactive time (CRT), the greatest progress was achieved by the male and female volleyball players. In all tests, the progress of the female basketball, handball, and volleyball players showed superior progress to similar male players. The results of the research highlighted the effectiveness of the experimental exergame program by using Fitlight technology in optimizing human reaction times in junior team-game athletes. Using computer games to evaluate reaction times allowed us to differentiate the evaluation on the types of human reactions under both standardized conditions but also under conditions of efficiency and attractiveness.

Developmental coupling of cerebral blood flow and fMRI fluctuations in youth

The functions of the human brain are metabolically expensive and reliant on coupling between cerebral blood flow (CBF) and neural activity, yet how this coupling evolves over development remains unexplored. Here, we examine the relationship between CBF, measured by arterial spin labeling, and the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) from resting-state magnetic resonance imaging across a sample of 831 children (478 females, aged 8-22 years) from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort. We first use locally weighted regressions on the cortical surface to quantify CBF-ALFF coupling. We relate coupling to age, sex, and executive functioning with generalized additive models and assess network enrichment via spin testing. We demonstrate regionally specific changes in coupling over age and show that variations in coupling are related to biological sex and executive function. Our results highlight the importance of CBF-ALFF coupling throughout development; we discuss its potential as a future target for the study of neuropsychiatric diseases.

Neurofunctional characteristics of executive control in older people with HIV infection: a comparison with Parkinson's disease

Expression of executive dysfunctions is marked by substantial heterogeneity in people living with HIV infection (PLWH) and attributed to neuropathological degradation of frontostriatal circuitry with age and disease. We compared the neurophysiology of executive function in older PLWH and Parkinson's disease (PD), both affecting frontostriatal systems. Thirty-one older PLWH, 35 individuals with PD, and 28 older healthy controls underwent executive task-activated fMRI, neuropsychological testing, and a clinical motor exam. fMRI task conditions distinguished cognitive control operations, invoking a lateral frontoparietal network, and motor control operations, activating a cerebellar-precentral-medial prefrontal network. HIV-specific findings denoted a prominent sensorimotor hypoactivation during cognitive control and striatal hypoactivation during motor control related to CD4⁺ T cell count and HIV disease duration. Activation deficits overlapped for PLWH and PD, relative to controls, in dorsolateral frontal, medial frontal, and middle cingulate cortices for cognitive control, and in limbic, frontal, parietal, and cerebellar regions for motor control. Thus, despite well-controlled HIV infection, frontostriatal and sensorimotor activation deficits occurred during executive control in older PLWH. Overlapping activation deficits in posterior cingulate and hippocampal regions point toward similarities in mesocorticolimbic system aberrations among older PLWH and PD. The extent of pathophysiology in PLWH was associated with variations in immune system health, neural signature consistent with subclinical parkinsonism, and mild neurocognitive impairment. The failure to adequately engage these pathways could be an early sign for cognitive and motor functional decline in the aging population of PLWH.

Growth trajectories of cognitive and motor control in adolescence: How much is development and how much is practice?

OBJECTIVE

Executive control continues to develop throughout adolescence and is vulnerable to alcohol use. Although longitudinal assessment is ideal for tracking executive function development and onset of alcohol use, prior testing experience must be distinguished from developmental trajectories.

METHOD

We used the Stroop Match-to-Sample task to examine the improvement of processing speed and specific cognitive and motor control over 4 years in 445 adolescents. The twice-minus-once-tested method was used and expanded to four test sessions to delineate prior experience (i.e., learning) from development. A General Additive Model evaluated the predictive value of age and sex on executive function development and potential influences of alcohol use on development.

RESULTS

Results revealed strong learning between the first two assessments. Adolescents significantly improved their speed processing over 4 years. Compared with boys, girls enhanced ability to control cognitive interference and motor reactions. Finally, the influence of alcohol use initiation was tested over 4 years for development in 110 no/low, 110 moderate/heavy age- and sex-matched drinkers; alcohol effects were not detected in the matched groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Estimation of learning effects is crucial for examining developmental changes longitudinally. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Reward-Sensitive Basal Ganglia Stabilize the Maintenance of Goal-Relevant Neural Patterns in Adolescents

Maturation of basal ganglia (BG) and frontoparietal circuitry parallels developmental gains in working memory (WM). Neurobiological models posit that adult WM performance is enhanced by communication between reward-sensitive BG and frontoparietal regions, via increased stability in the maintenance of goal-relevant neural patterns. It is not known whether this reward-driven pattern stability mechanism may have a role in WM development. In 34 young adolescents (12.16-14.72 years old) undergoing fMRI, reward-sensitive BG regions were localized using an incentive processing task. WM-sensitive regions were localized using a delayed-response WM task. Functional connectivity analyses were used to examine the stability of goal-relevant functional connectivity patterns during WM delay periods between and within reward-sensitive BG and WM-sensitive frontoparietal regions. Analyses revealed that more stable goal-relevant connectivity patterns between reward-sensitive BG and WM-sensitive frontoparietal regions were associated with both greater adolescent age and WM ability. Computational lesion models also revealed that functional connections to WM-sensitive frontoparietal regions from reward-sensitive BG uniquely increased the stability of goal-relevant functional connectivity patterns within frontoparietal regions. Findings suggested (1) the extent to which goal-relevant communication patterns within reward-frontoparietal circuitry are maintained increases with adolescent development and WM ability and (2) communication from reward-sensitive BG to frontoparietal regions enhances the maintenance of goal-relevant neural patterns in adolescents' WM. The maturation of reward-driven stability of goal-relevant neural patterns may provide a putative mechanism for understanding the developmental enhancement of WM.

Developmental maturation of inhibitory control circuitry in a high-risk sample: A longitudinal fMRI study

Background

The goal of this work was to characterize the maturation of inhibitory control brain function from childhood to early adulthood using longitudinal data collected in two cohorts.

Methods

Functional MRI during a go/no-go task was conducted in 290 participants, with 88 % undergoing repeated scanning at 1- to 2-year intervals. One group entered the study at age 7–13 years (n = 117); the other entered at age 18–23 years (n = 173). 33.1 % of the sample had two parents with a substance use disorder (SUD), 43.8 % had one parent with an SUD, and 23.1 % had no parents with an SUD. 1162 scans were completed, covering ages 7–28, with longitudinal data from the cohorts overlapping across ages 16–21. A marginal model with sandwich estimator standard errors was used to characterize voxel-wise age-related changes in hemodynamic response associated with successful inhibitory control.

Results

There was significant positive linear activation associated with age in the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital cortices. No clusters survived thresholding with negative linear, positive or negative quadratic, or positive or negative cubic contrasts.

Conclusions

These findings extend previous cross-sectional and small-scale longitudinal studies that have observed positive linear developmental trajectories of brain function during inhibitory control.