title: Caudate responses to reward anticipation associated with delay discounting behavior in healthy youth.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Choices requiring delay of gratification made during adolescence can have significant impact on life trajectory. Willingness to delay gratification can be measured using delay discounting tasks that require a choice between a smaller immediate reward and a larger delayed reward. Individual differences in the subjective value of delayed rewards are associated with risk for development of psychopathology including substance abuse. The neurobiological underpinnings related to these individual differences early in life are not fully understood. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we tested the hypothesis that individual differences in delay discounting behavior in healthy youth are related to differences in responsiveness to potential reward.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nineteen 10-14 year-olds performed a monetary incentive delay task to assess neural sensitivity to potential reward and a questionnaire to measure discounting of future monetary rewards.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Left ventromedial caudate activation during anticipation of potential reward was negatively correlated with delay discounting behavior. There were no regions where brain responses during notification of reward outcome were associated with discounting behavior.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Brain activation during anticipation of potential reward may serve as a marker for individual differences in ability or willingness to delay gratification in healthy youth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 1601 23rd Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37212, United States; Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 2200 Children's Way, Nashville, TN, 37232, United States. Electronic address: margaret.m.benningfield@vanderbilt.edu.
authors.forename: Margaret M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Benningfield
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 1601 23rd Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37212, United States; Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, PMB 407817, Nashville, TN 37240, United States. Electronic address: jenni.blackford@vanderbilt.edu.
authors.forename: Jennifer U
authors.initials: JU
authors.lastname: Blackford
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 1601 23rd Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37212, United States. Electronic address: melissa.ellsworth@vanderbilt.edu.
authors.forename: Melissa E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Ellsworth
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Yale University, Box 208205, New Haven, CT 06520, United States. Electronic address: g.samanezlarkin@yale.edu.
authors.forename: Gregory R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Samanez-Larkin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 1601 23rd Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37212, United States; Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, 215 Light Hall, Nashville, TN 37232, United States. Electronic address: peter.martin@vanderbilt.edu.
authors.forename: Peter R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 1601 23rd Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37212, United States; Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, PMB 407817, Nashville, TN 37240, United States; Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 1161 Medical Center Drive, Medical Center North, Suite CCC-1100, Nashville, TN 37232, United States. Electronic address: ronald.l.cowan@vanderbilt.edu.
authors.forename: Ronald L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Cowan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 1601 23rd Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37212, United States; Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, PMB 407817, Nashville, TN 37240, United States. Electronic address: david.zald@vanderbilt.edu.
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Zald
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000502:physiology*; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D012201:Reward
keywords: Adolescent; Delay discounting; Delayed gratification; Intertemporal choice; Reward; fMRI