Cross-sectional exploration of brain functional connectivity in the triadic development model of adolescents

Adolescence represents a transitional stage with increased risk taking and mood dysregulation. These vulnerabilities are accountable by developmental dynamics in the triadic functional brain networks underlying reward seeking (REW), emotional avoidance (EMO), and cognitive regulation (COG). However, these triadic dynamics, though conceptually established, have yet been investigated directly. Capitalizing on public database of resting-state fMRI from 222 adolescents (8–18 years old, 89F133M), this study examined cross-sectional development profiles of functional connectivity (FC) by jointly considering bilateral seeds of the ventral striatum, amygdala, and dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex in probing the networks of REW, EMO, and COG, respectively. Positive and negative FCs were considered separately for clarification of synergetic and suppressive interactions. While the REW and EMO mostly exhibited quadratic FC changes across age, suggesting reduced reward sensitivity and risk avoidance, the COG exhibited both linear and quadratic FC changes, suggesting both protracted maturation of cognitive ability and lowered top-down regulation. Additional age × gender effects were identified in the precentral gyrus and superior medial prefrontal cortex, which may associate risky action and emotion dysregulation to boys and girls, respectively. These results provide network evidence in substantiating the “triadic model” and deepening existing insights into neurodevelopmental mechanisms associated with adolescent behavior.