Functional connectivity between the nucleus accumbens and amygdala underlies avoidance learning during adolescence: Implications for developmental psychopathology.
Benjamin M Rosenberg, João F Guassi Moreira, Adriana S Méndez Leal, Natalie M Saragosa-Harris, Elizabeth Gaines, Wesley J Meredith, Yael Waizman, Emilia Ninova, Jennifer A Silvers
Author Information
Benjamin M Rosenberg: Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA. ORCID
João F Guassi Moreira: Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA. ORCID
Adriana S Méndez Leal: Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA. ORCID
Natalie M Saragosa-Harris: Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA. ORCID
Elizabeth Gaines: Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Wesley J Meredith: Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Yael Waizman: Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. ORCID
Emilia Ninova: College of Social Work, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
Jennifer A Silvers: Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA. ORCID
BACKGROUND: Reward and threat processes work together to support adaptive learning during development. Adolescence is associated with increasing approach behavior (e.g., novelty-seeking, risk-taking) but often also coincides with emerging internalizing symptoms, which are characterized by heightened avoidance behavior. Peaking engagement of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) during adolescence, often studied in reward paradigms, may also relate to threat mechanisms of adolescent psychopathology. METHODS: 47 typically developing adolescents (9.9-22.9 years) completed an aversive learning task during functional magnetic resonance imaging, wherein visual cues were paired with an aversive sound or no sound. Task blocks involved an escapable aversively reinforced stimulus (CS+), the same stimulus without reinforcement (CS+), or a stimulus that was never reinforced (CS-). Parent-reported internalizing symptoms were measured using Revised ChildAnxiety and depression Scales. RESULTS: Functional connectivity between the NAcc and amygdala differentiated the stimuli, such that connectivity increased for the CS+ ( = .023) but not for the CS+ and CS-. Adolescents with greater internalizing symptoms demonstrated greater positive functional connectivity for the CS- ( = .041). CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents show heightened NAcc-amygdala functional connectivity during escape from threat. Higher Anxiety and depressionsymptoms are associated with elevated NAcc-amygdala connectivity during safety, which may reflect poor safety versus threat discrimination.
