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The profound effects of child maltreatment on brain functioning have been documented. Yet, little is known about whether distinct maltreatment experiences are differentially related to underlying neural processes of risky decision making: valuation and control. Using conditional growth curve modeling, we compared a cumulative approach versus a dimensional approach (relative effects of abuse and neglect) to examine the link between child maltreatment and brain development. The sample included 167 adolescents (13-14 years at Time 1, 53 % male), assessed annually four times. Risk processing was assessed by blood-oxygen-level-dependent responses (BOLD) during a lottery choice task, and cognitive control by BOLD responses during the Multi-Source Interference Task. Cumulative maltreatment effects on insula and dorsolateral anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activation during risk processing were not significant. However, neglect (but not abuse) was associated with slower developmental increases in insula and dACC activation. In contrast, cumulative maltreatment effects on fronto-parietal activation during cognitive control were significant, and abuse (but not neglect) was associated with steeper developmental decreases in fronto-parietal activation. The results suggest neglect effects on detrimental neurodevelopment of the valuation system and abuse effects on accelerated neurodevelopment of the control system, highlighting differential effects of distinct neglect versus abuse adverse experiences on neurodevelopment., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Socioeconomic status (SES) is broadly associated with self-regulatory abilities across childhood and adolescence. However, there is limited understanding of the mechanisms underlying this association, especially during adolescence when individuals are particularly sensitive to environmental influences. The current study tested perceived stress, household chaos, parent cognitive control, and parent-adolescent relationship quality as potential proximal mediators of the association between family SES and neural correlates of cognitive control. A sample of 167 adolescents and their primary caregivers participated in a longitudinal study across four years. SES was indexed by caregivers' education and income-to-needs ratio at Time 1. At Time 2, adolescents reported on their perceived stress, household chaos, and relationship with parents, and parents completed a cognitive control task. Two years later, adolescents completed the same cognitive control task while blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) response was monitored with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). A parallel mediation model indicated that parent cognitive control, but not other proximal factors, explained the relation between SES and adolescents' activation in the middle frontal gyrus during a cognitive control task. The results suggest potential targets for intervention and prevention efforts that may positively alter neurocognitive outcomes related to socioeconomic disadvantage., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The present longitudinal study examined the role of neural cognitive control in the relation between negative and positive life events and depressive symptoms in adolescents. The sample comprised 138 adolescents (52% male, M age  = 13.49 at baseline) and their parents. At Time 1, adolescents participated in a functional neuroimaging session in which neural cognitive control was measured as hemodynamic activity during an inhibitory control task, and parents reported on adolescents' positive and negative life events within the past year. Adolescents and parents reported on adolescent depressive symptoms at Time 1, Time 2 (1 year later), and Time 3 (2 years later). Conditional latent growth curve model was used to test the main and interaction effects of neural cognitive control and positive/negative life events on the growth factors of depressive symptoms. Higher neural cognitive control moderated the relation between negative life events and the intercept of depressive symptoms. Adolescents with higher neural cognitive control did not experience higher depressive symptoms when confronted with more negative life events, whereas their counterparts with lower neural cognitive control did. The interaction effect between neural cognitive control and positive life events on depressive symptoms was not significant. Results suggest that neural cognitive control acts as a protective factor such that adolescents with higher neural cognitive control are protected against depressionogenic effects of negative life events, whereas adolescents with lower cognitive control are at greater risk for depressive symptoms in response to negative life events.

Adolescence is a critical period for the initiation of risk-taking behaviors. We examined the longitudinal interplay between neural correlates of risk processing and cognitive control in predicting risk-taking behaviors via stress. The sample consisted of 167 adolescents (53% males) who were assessed twice (M AgeTime1  = 14.13, M AgeTime2  = 15.05). Neural risk processing was operationalized as blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) responses in the anterior insula during a lottery choice task and neural cognitive control as BOLD responses during an inhibitory control task. Adolescents reported on perceived stress and risk-taking behaviors. Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that low insular risk processing predicted increases in perceived stress, while perceived stress did not predict changes in insular risk processing across one year. Moreover, significant moderation by neural cognitive control indicated that low insular risk processing predicted increases in risk-taking behaviors via increases in perceived stress among adolescents with poor neural cognitive control, but not among adolescents with good neural cognitive control. The results suggest that risk processing in the anterior insular cortex plays an important role in stress experience and risk-taking behaviors particularly for vulnerable adolescents with poor neural cognitive control., (Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The developmental period of adolescence is characterized by increasing incidence of health risk behaviors (HRBs). Based on theoretical models that emphasize the moderating role of cognitive control, this study examined how neural correlates of cognitive control and risk sensitivity interact to predict HRBs among late adolescents (17-20 years). Neuroimaging data indicate that risk-related hemodynamic activity in the anterior insula during anticipation of uncertain outcomes predicts HRBs among late adolescents exhibiting greater dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activity during a cognitive interference task but not among late adolescents requiring less dACC activity. These results present neural evidence for a significant moderating effect of cognitive control on the link between risk sensitivity and HRBs among late adolescents., (© 2016 The Authors. Journal of Research on Adolescence © 2016 Society for Research on Adolescence.)

During adolescence, prefrontal cortex regions, important in cognitive control, undergo maturation to adapt to changing environmental demands. Ways through which social-ecological factors contribute to adolescent neural cognitive control have not been thoroughly examined. We hypothesize that household chaos is a context that may modulate the associations among parental control, adolescent neural cognitive control, and developmental changes in social competence. The sample involved 167 adolescents (ages 13-14 at Time 1, 53% male). Parental control and household chaos were measured using adolescents' questionnaire data, and cognitive control was assessed via behavioral performance and brain imaging at Time 1. Adolescent social competence was reported by adolescents at Time 1 and at Time 2 (one year later). Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that higher parental control predicted better neural cognitive control only among adolescents living in low-chaos households. The association between poor neural cognitive control at Time 1 and social competence at Time 2 (after controlling for social competence at Time 1) was significant only among adolescents living in high-chaos households. Household chaos may undermine the positive association of parental control with adolescent neural cognitive control and exacerbate the detrimental association of poor neural cognitive control with disrupted social competence development., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)