Annual Research Review: Neural contributions to risk-taking in adolescence - developmental changes and individual differences

Background Risk‐taking, which involves voluntary choices for behaviors where outcomes remain uncertain, undergoes considerable developmental changes during childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. In addition, risk‐taking is thought to be a key element of many externalizing disorders, such as ADHD, delinquency, conduct disorder, and substance abuse. In this review, we will discuss the potential adaptive and nonadaptive properties of risk‐taking in childhood and adolescence. Findings We propose that the changes in brain architecture and function are a crucial element underlying these developmental trajectories. We first identify how subcortical and cortical interactions are important for understanding risk‐taking behavior in adults. Next, we show how developmental changes in this network underlie changes in risk‐taking behavior. Finally, we explore how these differences can be important for understanding externalizing behavioral disorders in childhood and adolescence. Conclusions We conclude that longitudinal studies are of crucial importance for understanding these developmental trajectories, and many of these studies are currently underway. This review describes the most recent insights in neural processes involved in risk‐taking, with a focus on brain structure, function, and connectivity, in healthy adolescents and adolescents with impulsivity disorders. Moving beyond a discussion of regional functional activity, and putting emphasis on connectivity patterns as important determinants for age changes and individual differences, the review focuses on the ventral striatum and the prefrontal cortex connectivity that is related to the individual differences in risk‐seeking behavior, and discusses how this may provide an understanding of the emergence of impulsivity disorders, such as ADHD and conduct disorder, and the developmental trajectories of these and other externalizing behavioral disorders in childhood and adolescence. Read the Commentary on this article at doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12539