Exploring How Reward-Related Executive Functions Develop in Humans

Samuel David Klein, Paul F. Collins, Vanessa Lozano Wun, Peter M. Grund, and Monica Luciana

(see article e1233232025)

Research suggests that increased risk-taking in adolescence may be due to imbalances in frontostriatal brain networks. Supporting this idea, research implicates ventral and dorsal frontostriatal networks in reward processing and behavioral control, respectively. But a better understanding of how these networks develop to support reward-related executive functions in humans is needed. In a longitudinal study, Klein et al. explored how the resting-state functional connectivities (rsFC) of ventral and dorsal frontostriatal networks change as people age. Imaging data of over 150 people aged 11–25 revealed age-dependent changes in ventral and dorsal frontostriatal rsFC. More specifically, ventral networks related to reward had increased rsFC while those related to executive function had decreased rsFC, and dorsal networks related to reward had decreased rsFC while those related to executive function had increased rsFC. These divergent developmental network changes that occurred throughout adolescence were associated with improved reward-related decision-making and executive function. According to the researchers, their observations advance our understanding of risk-taking teens and may be informative for those studying how psychopathology develops.

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Retrogradely labeled cell bodies in the thalamus. Retrograde tracers cholera toxin B (red) and fast blue (blue) were injected into the cortex. Some cells are labeled with both tracers (magenta). See Córdoba-Claros et al. for more information.

Examining the Medial Nucleus of the Pulvinar Complex

María Angelica Córdoba-Claros, Pablo Rubio-Garrido, Ruthnaldo R. M. de Lima, Paulo Leonardo A. G. Morais, Expedito S. Nascimento Jr et al.

(see article e1837242025)

The medial nucleus of the pulvinar complex has poorly understood functions and circuitry. Córdoba-Claros and colleagues used high-resolution labeling methods to fully map projections arising from distinct medial pulvinar domains in marmosets. Biotinylated dextran amine microinjections allowed the researchers to visualize long-branching axons with dense arborizations. Retrograde tracer injections into cortical areas enabled the researchers to discover distinct projections from subregions of the medial pulvinar. Pulvinar neurons in a caudal subregion innervated inferior and ventral temporal areas of the cortex, while those in a rostral subregion targeted temporal, ventral prefrontal, premotor, inferior posterior parietal, and cingulate areas of the cortex. According to the authors, this work suggests that pulvinar neurons may modulate the connectivity of cortical networks that drive vision, social cognition, attention, sensory-guided reaching, and working memory. The comprehensive map of thalamocortical projections that this work provides may be informative for neuroscientists in many fields.