Adolescence, risky decision making and substance use

Question 1

What is typical behavior in adolescence?

Answer 1

1. high risk-taking
2. high exploration
3. novelty seeking
4. sensation seeking
5. social interaction
6. high activity
7. play behavior

Question 2

What is the function of adolescence?

Answer 2

1. develop social skills
2. prepare for independence in adulthood
   - -> in rodents and humans

Question 3

onset of mental illnesses

Answer 3

• overlap at around 14 years
• impulse-control disorders and anxiety disorders earlier than e.g., mood disorders: people run into situations where it becomes clear that they have a problem earlier (school), e.g. mood disorders are much more internal

Question 4

delayed discounting

Answer 4

• 50 euro now vs. 100 euro in the future
• value of 100 is always more, but the later the less valuable it becomes in your mind
• -> adolescence are worse at waiting for a larger reward, bad at putting down instant gratification

Question 5

gray matter development

Answer 5

• gray matter: neurons

- gray matter development means LESS gray matter, pruning (doing more with less)

Question 6

white matter development

Answer 6

• white matter: connections
• increase with development +
• well connected: processing speed increases, but also less flexible
• -> faster but less flexible (e.g., less creativity)

Question 7

brain development (regions)

Answer 7

• not all regions develop at the same pace
• social regions develop last: you need to be tuned to your social group (adapt to new social environments and their cultural expectations): you are more flexible for longer
• prefrontal cortex also pretty late

Question 8

Dual Systems Model

Answer 8

• why do adolescence take riskier decisions?
• developmental mismatch:
  1. subcortical regions (ventrals striatum): “driving forces”: get rewards etc.
  2. prefrontal cortex: “braking system”, inhibition

Question 9

NAcc

Answer 9

• Nucleus accumbens: active when we receive a reward

- part of the ventral striatum

Question 10

task design: does activity of NAcc matches with first part of dual systems model?

Answer 10

• contrast between winning and loosing
• -> NAcc most active during adolescence (peak at 17)
• -> confirms the first part

Question 11

adaptive risk taking behavior balloon task

Answer 11

• money earned

not all risk taking is bad

Question 12

non-adaptive risk taking balloon task

Answer 12

• number of explosions

Question 13

BART and NAcc activation relationship

Answer 13

• no relationship between number of explosions and NAcc activity
• -> balloon task could be kind of boring, not really related to “fun”, real-world risks

Question 14

real-world risk behavior and NAcc activity relationship

Answer 14

Positive relationship between number of alcoholic drinks during a night out and NAcc activity (corrected for age)

Question 15

social influence (4)

Answer 15

1. peer encouragement
2. peer observation
3. peer presence
4. peer choices

Question 16

peer encouragement

Answer 16

e.g. driving together: “drive faster”

Question 17

peer observation

Answer 17

no interaction but watching

Question 18

peer presence

Answer 18

no interaction, no watching, but there

Question 19

peer choices

Answer 19

you are informed about what other people did

Question 20

Columbia card task: cold condition

Answer 20

How many cards do you want to turn over?

• informed about
  1. loss amount
  2. gain amount
  3. number of loss cards
• -> reliance on mathematical reasoning

Question 21

Columbia card task: hot condition

Answer 21

You turn the cards over one by one

• informed about
  1. loss amount
  2. gain amount
  3. number of loss cards
• -> reliance on “gutt”

Question 22

Columbia card task: hot vs. cold condition

Answer 22

• people turn more cards over in hot condition (decrease with age)
• cold condition stable

Question 23

Columbia card task: peer manipulation: conditions

Answer 23

1. alone
   vs.
2. active monitoring: distraction, transfer of arousal, peer judgement

Question 24

Columbia card task: peer manipulation: results

Answer 24

1. cold condition: youngest participants (13-15) riskier when monitored: mathematical reasoning disrupted when peer present
2. hot condition: adolescence (16-18) riskier when peer present: arousal

Question 25

What is adolescence?

Answer 25

Adolescence is the phase between childhood and adulthood and it co-occurs with the onset of puberty and the end of adolescence is probably defined as having a stable role in society (there is not a specific age for that and it varies between individuals)

Question 26

brain development path metaphor

Answer 26

You can compare this to a highway: when you are in the forest and there is no paths you can go everywhere but you will rather be slow in reaching certain areas but still everything is accessible. However, when you are on this big highway you will travel rather fast but there are very few exits making you less flexible.

Question 27

subcortical/limbic system development

Answer 27

• development under the influence of pubertal hormones

- emotion processing and sensitivity to motivational stimuli

Question 28

prefrontal areas

Answer 28

• develop with experience

- cognitive control and self-regulation

Question 29

hot vs. cold decisions

Answer 29

“Hot” decisions involve an emotional component (e.g., gambling in the casino) whereas “cold” decisions are the more cognitive decisions where you are considering the different outcomes and weighting your pro’s and con’s

Question 30

adolescents and rewards

Answer 30

• experiments show that adolescents are disproportionately motivated to approach potential rewards, particularly in contexts with heightened arousal or salience