Adolescent Cognitive Control, Theta Oscillations, and Social Motivation

Cognitive control supports goal-directed behavior and involves two main components: 1) monitoring for situations requiring control, such as errors or conflict; 2) control recruitment, either proactively before needed or reactively in a just-in-time manner. In adults, increased theta power over medial-frontal cortex (MFC) underlies monitoring, whereas theta connectivity between MFC and lateral-frontal regions reflects control recruitment. Theta oscillations have been proposed as an organizing principle of cognitive control in human adults and are conserved across species. However, the role of theta in supporting adolescent cognitive control remains unclear. Moreover, adolescence is characterized by a motivation-control mismatch, with social motivation being particularly salient. Characterizing theta band dynamics could clarify motivational influences on cognitive control during this developmental window. Here, we investigated theta dynamics while adolescents performed a flanker task twice, once alone and once believing they were under peer observation to increase social motivation. Broadly, theta dynamics were found to behave qualitatively similar to prior reports in adults. In a novel approach, we separated theta dynamics immediately before and after motor responses, identifying specific cognitive control mechanisms. We dissociate MFC connectivity with rostral/caudal frontal cortex and distinct forms of post-error behavioral control, as well as identified inverse relations between pre- and post-response control. Finally, social motivation was found to exclusively upregulate post-response error monitoring and proactive control, as opposed to pre-response conflict monitoring and reactive control. Collectively, the current study links theta to adolescent cognitive control, identifies specific effects of social motivation on proactive control, and more broadly identifies novel cognitive control dynamics.