Journal of Neuroscience April 9, 2025
Anatomical studies in nonhuman primates demonstrate that frontostriatal circuits are essential for integration of neural func-tions underlying reward processing and cognition, with human neuroimaging studies linking alterations in frontostriatal net-works to psychopathology. The present study characterized the developmental trajectories of frontostriatal resting-statenetworks from childhood to young adulthood. We demonstrate that ventral and dorsal aspects of the striatum exhibit distinctage-related changes that predicted developmental improvements in reward-related decision-making and executive function.These results highlight that adolescence is characterized by distinct changes in frontostriatal networks that may relate to nor-mative increases in risk taking. Atypical developmental trajectories of frontostriatal networks may contribute to adolescent-onset psychopathology.
