Children's brain activation during risky decision-making: A contributor to substance problems?

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Child Psychiatry

Background:

• Excessive externalizing behaviors in children often predict adolescent conduct and substance use disorders.
• Adolescents with these disorders exhibit altered brain function during risky decision-making.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if aberrant brain function during risky decision-making in children is associated with externalizing behaviors.
• To examine the link between the severity of externalizing behaviors and brain activation patterns during risk assessment.

Main Methods:

• fMRI scans were used to assess brain activity in 58 children (aged 9-11) during a risky decision-making task.
• Parent-rated Child Behavior Checklist Externalizing scores were collected.
• Whole-brain regression analyses identified brain regions associated with externalizing scores during decision-making.

Main Results:

• Higher externalizing scores were linked to significantly lower neural activation in regions like the medial prefrontal cortex, insula, striatum, midbrain, and cerebellum before risky choices.
• No significant associations were found before cautious responses, and no significant sex differences or interactions were observed.

Conclusions:

• Children with more externalizing behaviors exhibit hypoactivity in decision-critical brain regions when anticipating risky behaviors.
• This neural hypoactivity may contribute to the propensity for making excessive real-life risky decisions, potentially leading to externalizing behaviors.