Reward-centricity and attenuated aversions: An adolescent phenotype emerging from studies in laboratory animals

NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS

卷:70

Review

Doremus-Fitzwater, Tamara L.¹  Spear, Linda P.¹ 

[1] SUNY Binghamton, Dev Alcohol Exposure Res Ctr, Ctr Dev & Behav Neurosci, Dept Psychol, Binghamton, NY 13902 USA

关键词: Adolescent;    Rat;    Reward;    Aversion;    Neurobiology;    Behavior;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.08.015

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Adolescence is an evolutionarily conserved developmental period, with neural circuits and behaviors contributing to the detection, procurement, and receipt of rewards bearing similarity across species. Studies with laboratory animals suggest that adolescence is typified by a reward-centric phenotype an increased sensitivity to rewards relative to adults. In contrast, adolescent rodents are reportedly less sensitive to the aversive properties of many drugs and naturally aversive stimuli. Alterations within the mesocorticolimbic dopamine and endocannabinoid systems likely contribute to an adolescent reward sensitive, yet aversion-resistant, phenotype. Although early hypotheses postulated that developmental changes in dopaminergic circuitry would result in a reward deficiency syndrome, evidence now suggests the opposite: that adolescents are uniquely poised to seek out hedonic stimuli, experience greater pleasure from rewards, and consume rewarding stimuli in excess. Future studies that more clearly define the role of specific brain regions and neurotransmitter systems in the expression of behaviors toward reward- and aversive-related cues and stimuli are necessary to more fully understand an adolescent-proclivity for and vulnerability to rewards and drugs of potential abuse. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free