Gray matter volumetric correlates of behavioral activation and inhibition system traits in children: An exploratory voxel-based morphometry study of the ABCD project data

Approach and avoidance represent two fundamental behavioral traits that develop early in life. Previous studies have examined the neural correlates of approach and avoidance traits in adults and adolescents. Here, using the data set of the Adolescent Brain Cognition Development project, we investigated the structural cerebral bases of behavioral activation system (BAS) and behavioral inhibition system (BIS) in children. We employed voxel-based morphometry to examine how gray matter volumes (GMV) related specifically to BAS and BIS traits in 11,542 children (5491 girls, age 9–10 years) with 648 and 2697 identified as monozygotic twins (MZ) and dizygotic twins/siblings (DZ), respectively. After accounting for the BIS score, higher BAS scores (residuals) were positively correlated with the GMV of the ventral striatum (VS), and the correlation was stronger in MZ than in DZ and unrelated children, with a heritability (h2) of 0.8463. Higher BAS scores were negatively correlated with the GMV of bilateral visual, lateral orbitofrontal, temporal, and inferior frontal cortex, as well as the precuneus. Higher BIS (after accounting for BAS) scores were negatively correlated with the GMVs of the ventral caudate and bilateral putamen/pallidum, hypothalamus, and right anterior insula, and the correlation was stronger in MZ than in DZ and unrelated children, with a heritability of 0.8848. A cluster in the VS showed positive and negative correlation with the BAS and BIS scores, respectively. These findings suggest shared and distinct cerebral volumetric bases of the BAS and BIS traits in children. Whereas both traits have a strong genetic basis, the BAS relative to BIS appears to be more amenable to environmental influences. These findings add to the literature of developmental neuroscience and may help identify genetic risk factors of externalizing and internalizing psychopathology.