Functional connectivity between the nucleus accumbens and amygdala underlies avoidance learning during adolescence: Implications for developmental psychopathology.

Background: Reward and threat processes work together to support adaptive learning during development. Adolescence is associated with increasing approach behavior (e.g., novelty-seeking, risk-taking) but often also coincides with emerging internalizing symptoms, which are characterized by heightened avoidance behavior. Peaking engagement of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) during adolescence, often studied in reward paradigms, may also relate to threat mechanisms of adolescent psychopathology.

Methods: 47 typically developing adolescents (9.9-22.9 years) completed an aversive learning task during functional magnetic resonance imaging, wherein visual cues were paired with an aversive sound or no sound. Task blocks involved an escapable aversively reinforced stimulus (CS+_r), the same stimulus without reinforcement (CS+_nr), or a stimulus that was never reinforced (CS-). Parent-reported internalizing symptoms were measured using Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scales.

Results: Functional connectivity between the NAcc and amygdala differentiated the stimuli, such that connectivity increased for the CS+_r (p = .023) but not for the CS+_nr and CS-. Adolescents with greater internalizing symptoms demonstrated greater positive functional connectivity for the CS- (p = .041).

Conclusions: Adolescents show heightened NAcc-amygdala functional connectivity during escape from threat. Higher anxiety and depression symptoms are associated with elevated NAcc-amygdala connectivity during safety, which may reflect poor safety versus threat discrimination.