Time of day differences in neural reward responsiveness in children

Maternal Response to Positive Affect Moderates the Impact of Familial Risk for Depression on Ventral Striatal Response to Winning Reward in 6- to 8-Year-Old Children

BACKGROUND

A growing body of research has demonstrated that adolescent offspring of depressed parents show diminished responding in the ventral striatum to reward. More recent work has suggested that altered reward responding may emerge earlier than adolescence in offspring at familial risk for depression, although factors associated with neural alterations in childhood remain poorly understood.

METHODS

We tested whether 6- to 8-year-old children, 49% at heightened risk for depression via maternal history, showed altered neural responding to winning reward. We evaluated whether maternal socialization of positive emotion moderated the association between familial risk and child neural response to reward. Participants were 49 children 6 to 8 years of age (24 with a maternal history of recurrent or chronic depression, 25 with no maternal history of any psychiatric disorder). Children underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while completing the Doors Guessing Task, a widely used reward guessing task. Mothers reported their use of encouraging and dampening responses to child positive affect.

RESULTS

Findings demonstrated that children at high familial risk for depression showed lower ventral striatum responding to winning reward relative to low-risk children, but only when mothers used less encouragement or greater dampening responses to their child's positive emotion expressions.

CONCLUSIONS

Neural reward alterations in the ventral striatum may emerge earlier than previously thought, as early as 6 to 8 years of age, specifically in the context of maternal discouragement of child positive emotions. Clinical interventions that focus on coaching mothers on how to encourage child positive emotions may be beneficial for supporting child reward-related brain development.

Maternal criticism and children's neural responses to reward and loss

Parental criticism is linked to a number of detrimental child outcomes. One mechanism by which parental criticism may increase risk for negative outcomes in children is through children's neural responses to valenced information in the environment. The goal of the current study, therefore, was to examine the relation between maternal criticism and children's neural responses to monetary gains and losses. To represent daily environmental experiences of reward and punishment, we focused on reactivity to monetary gains versus losses in a guessing task. Participants were 202 children and their mothers recruited from the community. The average age of the children was 9.71 years (SD = 1.38, range = 7-11), with 52.0% of them male and 72.8% Caucasian. Mothers completed the Five Minute Speech Sample to assess expressed emotion-criticism, and of these dyads 51 mothers were rated as highly critical. In addition, children completed a simple guessing game during which electroencephalography was recorded. Children of critical mothers displayed less neural reactivity to both monetary gain and loss than children without critical mothers. Our results were at least partially independent of children's and mothers' current levels of internalizing psychopathology. These findings suggest that children exposed to maternal criticism may exhibit disruptions in adaptive responses to environmental experiences regardless of valence. Targeted interventions aimed at reducing expressed emotion-criticism may lead to changes in a child's reward responsiveness and risk for psychopathology.

Decreased effective connectivity between insula and anterior cingulate cortex during a working memory task after prolonged sleep deprivation

Total sleep deprivation (TSD) causes a decline in almost all cognitive domains, especially working memory. However, we do not have a clear understanding of the degree working memory is impaired under prolonged TSD, nor do we know the underlying neurophysiological mechanism. In this study, we recorded EEG data from 64 subjects while they performed a working memory task during resting wakefulness, after 24 h TSD, and after 30 h TSD. ANOVA was used to verify performance differences between 24 h and 30 h TSD in working memory tasks: (1) reaction time and accuracy hit rates, (2) P200, N200, and P300 amplitude and latency in measurements of event-related potential, as well as (3) effective connectivity strength between brain areas associated with working memory. Compared to 24 h TSD, 30 h TSD significantly decreased accuracy hit rates and induced a larger N200 difference waveform. The effective connectivity analysis showed that 30 h TSD also decreased beta frequency in effective connection strength from the right insular lobe to the left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Effective connection from the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex increased in the match condition of the 2-back task. In conclusion, 30 h TSD had a greater negative impact on working memory than 24 h TSD. This impairment of working memory is associated with decreased strength in the effective connection from the right insula to the left ACC.

African American Children's Diminished Returns of Subjective Family Socioeconomic Status on Fun Seeking

Background: Reward sensitivity (fun-seeking) is a risk factor for a wide range of high-risk behaviors. While high socioeconomic status (SES) is known to reduce reward sensitivity and associated high-risk behaviors, less is known about the differential effects of SES on reward sensitivity. It is plausible to expect weaker protective effects of family SES on reward sensitivity in racial minorities, a pattern called Minorities' Diminished Returns (MDRs). Aim: We compared Caucasian and African American (AA) children for the effects of subjective family SES on children's fun-seeking. Methods: This was a cross-sectional analysis of 7061 children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. The independent variable was subjective family SES. The main outcome was children's fun-seeking measured by the behavioral approach system (BAS) and behavioral avoidance system (BIS). Age, gender, marital status, and household size were the covariates. Results: In the overall sample, high subjective family SES was associated with lower levels of fun-seeking. We also found a statistically significant interaction between race and subjective family SES on children's fun-seeking in the overall sample, suggesting that high subjective family SES is associated with a weaker effect on reducing fun-seeking among AA than Caucasian children. In race-stratified models, high subjective family SES was protective against fun-seeking of Caucasian but not AA children. Conclusion: Subjective family SES reduces the fun-seeking for Caucasian but not AA children.

Reward Responsiveness in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study: African Americans' Diminished Returns of Parental Education

(1) Background: Reward responsiveness (RR) is a risk factor for high-risk behaviors such as aggressive behaviors and early sexual initiation, which are all reported to be higher in African American and low socioeconomic status adolescents. At the same time, parental education is one of the main drivers of reward responsiveness among adolescents. It is still unknown if some of this racial and economic gap is attributed to weaker effects of parental education for African Americans, a pattern also called minorities' diminished returns (MDRs). (2) Aim: We compared non-Hispanic White and African American adolescents for the effects of parent education on adolescents RR, a psychological and cognitive construct that is closely associated with high-risk behaviors such as the use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. (3) Methods: This was a cross-sectional analysis that included 7072 adolescents from the adolescent brain cognitive development (ABCD) study. The independent variable was parent education. The main outcome as adolescents' RR measured by the behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and behavioral activation system (BAS) measure. (4) Results: In the overall sample, high parent education was associated with lower levels of RR. In the overall sample, we found a statistically significant interaction between race and parent education on adolescents' RR. The observed statistical interaction term suggested that high parent education is associated with a weaker effect on RR for African American than non-Hispanic White adolescents. In race-stratified models, high parent education was only associated with lower RR for non-Hispanic White but not African American adolescents. (5) Conclusion: Parent education reduces RR for non-Hispanic White but not African American adolescents. To minimize the racial gap in brain development and risk-taking behaviors, we need to address societal barriers that diminish the returns of parent education and resources in African American families. We need public and social policies that target structural and societal barriers, such as the unequal distribution of opportunities and resources. To meet such an aim, we need to reduce the negative effects of social stratification, segregation, racism, and discrimination in the daily lives of African American parents and families. Through an approach like this, African American families and parents can effectively mobilize their resources and utilize their human capital to secure the best possible tangible outcomes for their adolescents.

Age-Related Decline in Children's Reward Sensitivity: Blacks' Diminished Returns

BACKGROUND

It is important to study the correlates of reward sensitivity since it predicts high-risk behaviors. While ageing reduces children's reward sensitivity and its associated risk taking, there is more to find out about racial differences in regard to the effect of age on reward sensitivity. Minorities' Diminished Returns (MDRs) suggest that resources and assets show weaker effects on Black children than White children.

AIM

We compared White children to Black children as for the effects of age on reward sensitivity.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study included 10533 American children who participated in the baseline of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. The independent variable was age, while the dependent variable was reward sensitivity as captured by the behavioral approach/behavioral avoidance system (BAS-BIS). Gender, parental education, marital status, parental education, and household income were the covariates.

RESULTS

Higher age was associated with less reward sensitivity. A significant interaction was found between race and age when it comes to children's reward sensitivity. It suggested that age is associated with a smaller gain in terms of reduced reward sensitivity in Black children than White children.

CONCLUSION

Age is more likely to reduce reward sensitivity in White children than Black children. This finding is in line with MDRs, and may be due to social racism, segregation, stratification, and discrimination.