Impact of Early Life Adversity on Reward Processing in Young Adults (2014)
A study in PLOS ONE reveals that early life adversity negatively affects reward processing in young adults, showing decreased activation during anticipation and increased activation during delivery, linked to ADHD symptoms.
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The study published in PLOS ONE investigates the long-term effects of early life adversity on reward processing in young adults, utilizing EEG-fMRI techniques over a 25-year period. It involved 162 healthy participants, assessing their experiences of early family adversity and symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The findings indicate that early life adversity is associated with decreased activation in reward-related brain areas during reward anticipation, specifically the ventral striatum, putamen, and thalamus. Conversely, during reward delivery, there was increased activation in the insula and pallidum. Additionally, lifetime ADHD symptoms correlated with lower activation in the left ventral striatum during anticipation and higher activation in the right insula during delivery. These results suggest a complex relationship where early adversity leads to hyporesponsiveness in reward anticipation and hyperresponsiveness during reward receipt, potentially linking early stress to ADHD through dysfunctional reward pathways.
- Early life adversity negatively impacts reward processing in young adults.
- Decreased brain activation during reward anticipation is linked to early adversity.
- Increased activation during reward delivery may indicate altered reward sensitivity.
- ADHD symptoms are associated with distinct patterns of brain activation related to reward processing.
- The study highlights the importance of understanding the neurobiological effects of early life stress on mental health.
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11 commentsThey learn that life is completely unpredictable, that opportunities for reward should be taken immediately because they will not be there later, they never learn to spend extended time on learning anything or saving money for the future because they have never seen anyone in their life do those things.
A few manage to figure it out anyway, but most are doomed to repeat all of that as parents with their own kids. It's sad.
Don't get me wrong, I fully agree that life experiences are their own teaching. However, it seems clear that a coach/teacher added to the exact same experiences can lead to different learning. Curious if folks have any links to studies that disprove that?
1. Dysfunctional reward processing in parents plausibly causes early life adversity in their children, and
2. Dysfunctional reward processing, like practically every other mental trait, is to some degree heritable.
Without controlling for genetics it would be impossible to distinguish the effect of early life adversity from the effect of being the child of the type of parent who creates an environment of early life adversity.
I think it’s plausible that shared environment plays a role, but papers that don’t even try to address genetic confounding aren’t serious.
What is a dysfunctional reward pathway?
I would additionally posit the more "potential" the youth were given the perception of having, the dramatically worse the comparative results.
I can distinctly, acutely, remember sondering others' unobservable lives, long before I had any distinct sense of agency; comparing their actions against their words and little affects either had on outcomes.
So few times in my life that I have feared repercussions/punishment, it raises the question if its systematic to a group or just an individual anecdote.
Not any indicator of things to 'do' to help not develop ADHD later? No actions to take?
" In contrast, during reward delivery, activation of the bilateral insula, right pallidum and bilateral putamen increased with EFA. There was a significant association of lifetime ADHD symptoms with lower activation in the left ventral striatum during reward anticipation and higher activation in the right insula during reward delivery."
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