Diminished Cortical Thickness Is Associated with Impulsive Choice in Adolescence

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Adolescence involves significant brain maturation and heightened risk-taking behaviors.
• Impulsive choice, measured by delay discounting (DD), is a key factor in adolescent risk behaviors.
• The relationship between structural brain development and individual differences in impulsive choice during adolescence is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between delay discounting (DD) and cortical thickness in structural brain networks in a large cohort of adolescents.
• To identify specific brain regions and networks linked to impulsive choice during adolescent development.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from 427 human youths (Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort).
• Employed non-negative matrix factorization to derive structural covariance networks.
• Analyzed associations between DD and cortical thickness using generalized additive models with penalized splines.

Main Results:

• Greater delay discounting (impulsive choice) was significantly associated with diminished cortical thickness in networks including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, temporal pole, and temporoparietal junction.
• Structural brain networks predicted delay discounting independently of cognitive performance.
• Reduced cortical thickness in value-based decision-making regions emerged as a marker of impulsive choice.

Conclusions:

• Diminished cortical thickness in specific structural brain networks is associated with impulsive choice in adolescents.
• Neuroanatomical markers of impulsivity, particularly in prefrontal regions, may inform personalized interventions for at-risk youth.
• Findings highlight the link between brain structure and decision-making during the critical adolescent period.