The neural systems underlying reward-related behaviors across development have recently generated a great amount of interest. Yet, the neurodevelopmental literature on reward processing is marked by inconsistencies due to the heterogeneity of the reward paradigms used, the complexity of the behaviors being studied, and the developing brain itself as a moving target. The present review will examine task design as one source of variability across findings by compiling this literature along three dimensions: (1) task structures, (2) cognitive processes, and (3) neural systems. We start with the presentation of a heuristic neural systems model, the Triadic Model, as a way to provide a theoretical framework for the neuroscience research on motivated behaviors. We then discuss the principles guiding reward task development. Finally, we review the extant developmental neuroimaging literature on reward-related processing, organized by reward task type. We hope that this approach will help to clarify the literature on the functional neurodevelopment of reward-related neural systems, and to identify the role of the experimental parameters that significantly influence these findings.

Although the configurations of facial muscles that humans perceive vary continuously, we often represent emotions as categories. This suggests that, as in other domains of categorical perception such as speech and color perception, humans become attuned to features of emotion cues that map onto meaningful thresholds for these signals given their environments. However, little is known about the learning processes underlying the representation of these salient social signals. In Experiment 1 we test the role of statistical distributions of facial cues in the maintenance of an emotion category in both children (6–8 years old) and adults (18–22 years old). Children and adults learned the boundary between neutral and angry when provided with explicit feedback (supervised learning). However, after we exposed participants to different statistical distributions of facial cues, they rapidly shifted their category boundaries for each emotion during a testing phase. In Experiments 2 and 3, we replicated this finding and also tested the extent to which learners are able to track statistical distributions for multiple actors. Not only did participants form actor-specific categories, but the distributions of facial cues also influenced participants’ trait judgments about the actors. Taken together, these data are consistent with the view that the way humans construe emotion (in this case, anger) is not only flexible, but reflects complex learning about the distributions of the myriad cues individuals experience in their social environments.

Loss aversion, a well-documented behavioural phenomenon, characterizes decisions under risk in adult populations. As such, loss aversion may provide a reliable measure of risky behaviour. Surprisingly, little is known about loss aversion in adolescents, a group who manifests risk-taking behaviour, or in anxiety disorders, which is associated with risk-avoidance. Finally, loss aversion is expected to be modulated by genotype, particularly the serotonin transporter (SERT) gene variant, based on its role in anxiety and impulsivity. This genetic modulation may also differ between anxious and healthy adolescents, given their distinct propensities for risk taking. The present work examines the modulation of loss aversion, an index of risk-taking, and reaction-time to decision, an index of impulsivity, by the serotonin- transporter-gene-linked polymorphisms (5HTTLPR) in healthy and clinically anxious adolescents. Findings show that loss aversion (1) does manifest in adolescents, (2) does not differ between healthy and clinically anxious participants, and (3), when stratified by SERT genotype, identifies a subset of anxious adolescents who are high SERT-expressers, and show excessively low loss-aversion and high impulsivity. This last finding may serve as preliminary evidence for 5HTTLPR as a risk factor for the development of comorbid disorders associated with risk-taking and impulsivity in clinically anxious adolescents.

Studies comparing neural correlates of reward processing across development yield inconsistent findings. This challenges theories characterizing adolescents as globally hypo- or hypersensitive to rewards. Developmental differences in reward sensitivity may fluctuate based on reward magnitude, and on whether rewards require decision-making. We examined whether these factors modulate developmental differences in neural response during reward anticipation and/or receipt in 26 adolescents (14.05±2.37yrs) and 26 adults (31.25±8.23yrs). Brain activity was assessed with fMRI during reward anticipation, when subjects made responses with-vs.-without decision-making, to obtain large–vs.–small rewards, and during reward receipt. When reward-receipt required decision-making, neural activity did not differ by age. However, when reward receipt did not require decision-making, neural activity varied by development, reward magnitude, and stage of the reward task. During anticipation, adolescents, but not adults, exhibited greater activity in the insula, extending into putamen, and cingulate gyrus for large-vs.-small incentives. During feedback, adults, but not adolescents, exhibited greater activity in the precuneus for large-vs.-small incentives. These data indicate that age-related differences in reward sensitivity cannot be characterized by global hypo- or hyper-responsivity. Instead, neural responding in striatum, prefrontal cortex and precuneus is influenced by both situational demands and developmental factors. This suggests nuanced maturational effects in adolescent reward sensitivity.

Objective Although a time of increased independence and autonomy, adolescence is also a time of vulnerabilities, through increased risk-taking and the emergence of psychopathology. Neurodevelopmental changes during this period may provide a neurobiological basis for this normative rise in deleterious behaviors. Thus, the objective of this review was to identify neurodevelopmental processes underlying the emergence of risk-taking and psychopathology in adolescence, and discuss implications of these findings for prevention. Method This article reviews literature examining developmental and contextual factors influencing neural functioning in systems mediating threat, reward, and cognitive control. This literature is discussed from the perspective of the Triadic Neural Systems Model of motivated behavior. Results Neuroimaging research suggests that neurodevelopmental and contextual factors both contribute to a shift in the functional equilibrium among the Triadic nodes. This equilibrium shift may contribute to negative outcomes of adolescent behavior. Most importantly, the balance of this equilibrium and its sensitivity to social and appetitive contexts may be exploited to facilitate prevention of deleterious outcomes. Conclusion Understanding developmental and contextual factors that influence functioning in motivational neural circuits can inform research on adolescent risk-taking, and may provide targets for novel preventions, for example through the use of incentives to reduce deleterious outcomes.

Individuals track probabilities, such as associations between events in their environments, but less is known about the degree to which experience—within a learning session and over development—influences people’s use of incoming probabilistic information to guide behavior in real time. In two experiments, children (4–11 years) and adults searched for rewards hidden in locations with predetermined probabilities. In Experiment 1, children (n = 42) and adults (n = 32) changed strategies to maximize reward receipt over time. However, adults demonstrated greater strategy change efficiency. Making the predetermined probabilities more difficult to learn (Experiment 2) delayed effective strategy change for children (n = 39) and adults (n = 33). Taken together, these data characterize how children and adults alike react flexibly and change behavior according to incoming information.

Childhood maltreatment is a critical problem in the United States. Much attention has been paid to the negative outcomes suffered by victims of abuse. Less attention has been devoted to understanding the emotional environments of maltreated children. One assumption, which has stood without empirical test, is that abused children encounter a high degree of anger in their home environments. Anger exposure is thought to be a source of stress for children in abusive environments and a potential link between the experience of abuse and the development of health and behavioral problems. We tested this notion by assessing data on over 1,000 parents and guardians of 3- to 17-year-old children who were participants in child development studies. Abuse was measured via records from Child Protective Services regarding substantiated and unsubstantiated claims of abuse as well as parent/guardian report. We compared self-reported experiences of anger from parents/guardians of children who have experienced abuse with those who have not. We found support for the claim that caregivers of abused children experience and express high levels of anger. Better characterization of the emotional environments in which abused children develop is critical for understanding how and why abuse affects children and has important implications for informing interventions.

Face masks are an effective and important tool to prevent the spread of COVID‐19, including among children. However, occluding parts of the face can impact emotion recognition, which is fundamental to effective social interactions. Social distancing, stress, and changes to routines because of the pandemic have also altered the social landscape of children, with implications for social development. To better understand how social input and context impact emotion recognition, the current study investigated emotion recognition in children (7–12 years old, N = 131) using images of both masked and unmasked emotional faces. We also assessed a subsample of participants (“pre‐pandemic subsample,” n = 35) who had completed the same emotion recognition task with unmasked faces before and during the pandemic. Masking of faces was related to worse emotion recognition, with more pronounced effects for happy, sad, and fearful faces than angry and neutral faces. Masking was more strongly related to emotion recognition among children whose families reported greater social disruption in response to the pandemic. Finally, in the pre‐pandemic subsample, emotion recognition of sad faces was lower during versus before the pandemic relative to other emotions. Together, findings show that occluding face parts and the broader social context (i.e., global pandemic) both impact emotion‐relevant judgments in school‐aged children.