Neurocognitive Development of Motivated Behavior: Dynamic Changes across Childhood and Adolescence.
The ability to anticipate and respond appropriately to the challenges and opportunities present in our environments is critical for adaptive behavior. Recent methodological innovations have led to substantial advances in our understanding of the neurocircuitry supporting such motivated behavior in adulthood. However, the neural circuits and cognitive processes that enable threat- and reward-motivated behavior undergo substantive changes over the course of development, and these changes are less well understood. In this article, we highlight recent research in human and animal models demonstrating how developmental changes in prefrontal-subcortical neural circuits give rise to corresponding changes in the processing of threats and rewards from infancy to adulthood. We discuss how these developmental trajectories are altered by experiential factors, such as early-life stress, and highlight the relevance of this research for understanding the developmental onset and treatment of psychiatric disorders characterized by dysregulation of motivated behavior.
['Gee|Dylan G|DG|0000-0002-3685-2710', 'Bath|Kevin G|KG|', 'Johnson|Carolyn M|CM|', 'Meyer|Heidi C|HC|', 'Murty|Vishnu P|VP|', 'van den Bos|Wouter|W|0000-0002-8017-3790', 'Hartley|Catherine A|CA|0000-0003-0177-7295']
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological D000293:Adolescent D002648:Child D002657:Child Development D003071:Cognition D006801:Humans D009042:Motivation D009415:Nerve Net D017397:Prefrontal Cortex D013315:Stress, Psychological
development motivation threat reward dopamine early life stress prefrontal cortex