The Role of Executive Function in Adolescent Adaptive Risk-Taking on the Balloon Analogue Risk Task.

The present study examined the role of executive control functions (ECF) in adaptive risk-taking during adolescence. Healthy individuals aged 8-25 were administered ECF measures and the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), a computerized measure of risk-taking propensity. Findings demonstrated that adolescents who executed a more consistent response strategy evidenced better performance on the BART.

Blunted Frontostriatal Blood Oxygen Level-Dependent Signals Predict Stimulant and Marijuana Use.

Background: Occasional recreational stimulant (amphetamine and cocaine) use is an important public health problem among young adults because 16% of those who experiment develop stimulant use disorder. This study aimed to determine whether behavioral and/or neural processing measures can forecast the transition from occasional to problematic stimulant use.

Methods: Occasional stimulant users completed a Risky Gains Task during functional magnetic resonance imaging and were followed up 3 years later.

Relationship between executive function, attachment style, and psychotic like experiences in typically developing youth.

Psychotic like experiences (PLE's) are common in the general population, particularly during adolescence, which has generated interest in how PLE's emerge, and the extent to which they reflect either risk for, or resilience to, psychosis. The "attachment-developmental-cognitive" (ADC) model is one effort to model the effect of risk factors on PLEs. The ADC model proposes attachment insecurity as an early environmental insult that can contribute to altered neurodevelopment, increasing the likelihood of PLE's and psychosis.

White matter microstructure in the executive network associated with aggression in healthy adolescents and young adults.

Predicting which individuals may engage in aggressive behavior is of interest in today's society; however, there is little data on the neural basis of aggression in healthy individuals. Here, we tested whether regional differences in white matter (WM) microstructure were associated with later reports of aggressive tendencies. We recontacted healthy young adults an average of 3 years after they underwent research MRI scans.