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Adolescent impatience decreases with increased frontostriatal connectivity
Wouter van den Bos1, Christian A Rodriguez2, Julie B Schweitzer3
1Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, 14197 Berlin, Germany; Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305; vandenbos@mpib-berlin.mpg.de.
Summary
Adolescents show increased impatience due to less future thinking, not more present focus. Brain connectivity changes in adolescence help integrate future outcomes, reducing impatience.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Adolescence is characterized by increased impulsivity, a complex trait.
- Impatience, a facet of impulsivity, may stem from disregarding future outcomes or valuing immediate rewards more.
- The specific drivers of developmental changes in impatience remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate developmental changes in impatience during adolescence.
- To differentiate between disregard for future outcomes and oversensitivity to immediate rewards as causes of adolescent impatience.
- To examine the role of frontostriatal structural and functional connectivity in these developmental changes.
Main Methods:
- Utilized an intertemporal choice task to assess impatience and future orientation.
- Analyzed structural and functional connectivity of frontostriatal tracts.
- Correlated brain connectivity measures with behavioral data on impatience and future orientation.
Main Results:
- Adolescents exhibited greater impatience and less future orientation compared to young adults.
- No significant difference in present hedonism was found between adolescents and young adults.
- Increased structural connectivity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal tract correlated with greater negative functional coupling with the striatum and reduced discount rates.
Conclusions:
- The reduction in impatience during adolescence is primarily driven by enhanced cognitive control.
- Improved integration of future-oriented thought processes contributes to decreased impatience.
- Developmental changes in frontostriatal connectivity underlie these shifts in decision-making.
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