Developmental neurobiology of cognitive control and motivational systems
Section snippets
Motivational modulation of cognitive control across development
Incentives can modulate cognitive control in numerous ways. Being rewarded for performance on a given task may make people work harder and ultimately perform better than when not rewarded. Alternatively, the capacity to exert control is challenged when required to suppress thoughts and actions toward appetitive cues. Recent studies of adolescent development have begun to compare cognitive control capacity in relatively neutral versus motivational contexts. These studies suggest a change in
Developmental neurobiology of corticosubcortical control
We have recently proposed a simple and testable neurobiological model of cognitive and motivational processes ([7•], see Figure 1) to account for real-world behavior of adolescents that is supported by recent laboratory evidence. This model suggests linear development of top down prefrontal regions relative to a ∩-shaped function for the development of bottom-up striatal regions involved in detecting salient cues in the environment.
Evidence in support of this model comes from animal and human
Conclusions
This is an exciting time in developmental neurobiology research of cognitive and motivational processes, with a surge in studies focused on the development of these processes in adolescence. Recent findings suggest that an enhanced sensitivity to motivational cues in adolescents, represented at the level of the striatum, modulates cognitive control-related processes differently from children and adults. As such, adolescent cognitive control capacity can be enhanced or impaired, depending on
References and recommended reading
Papers of particular interest, published within the period of review, have been highlighted as:
• of special interest
•• of outstanding interest
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by NIDA grants DA018879, DA007274, and NIMH grant MH62196. We thank Erika Ruberry and Rebecca Jones for assistance in the preparation of this manuscript.
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