# Behavioral and neural mechanisms of reward responsivity across normative and at-risk adolescent development

> **NIH NIH F32** · TEMPLE UNIV OF THE COMMONWEALTH · 2021 · $65,994

## Abstract

Depression is a major public health concern, ranking as a leading contributor of disease burden in adults and
adolescents. A promising etiological mechanism for understanding the development of depression is low
responsivity to rewards. Diminished reward responsivity during adolescence prospectively predicts depression
onset and is associated with increased symptom severity. Given the prominent role of diminished responsivity
to reward in the emergence and course of depression, reward response may be a critical target for treatment,
particularly during the adolescent period when the prevalence of depression onset spikes, when reward
responsivity among affected youth is markedly attenuated, and when the reward system may be particularly
plastic, and, thus, theoretically more amenable to intervention. Before interventions can be realized, however, a
more thorough understanding of developing reward responsivity is needed. While it is known that reward
responsivity undergoes dramatic change across normative adolescent development, very little is known about
the behavioral or neural mechanisms underlying these changes, either in healthy development or in adolescents
with an increased risk for depression. The proposed research will use existing project data, while extending the
initial aims of the parent R01, by further probing the developing reward-related phenotype in terms of (1)
behavioral dimensions of reward responsivity, and (2) hierarchically maturing reward circuitry. Across two aims,
the mechanisms underlying developing reward responsivity will be examined using a symptom-level approach,
longitudinal design, and comparison of adolescents with and without a family history of depression (at-risk and
normative groups). Specifically, Aim 1 will use computational modeling to examine developmental trajectories of
distinct dimensions of reward responsivity across normative development and in relation to the etiology of
depression symptoms. As computational modeling allows behavioral responses to be understood in more
mechanistic terms, the findings of this research will lay the foundation for understanding how dysregulation of
specific aspects of reward responsivity lead to depression onset. Aim 2 will examine how microstructure
development in the superolateral branch of the medial forebrain bundle, a recently identified reward-related white
matter tract, changes across healthy adolescent development and in those at-risk for depression. While broad
white matter disruptions have been linked to depression generally, the proposed project will seek to demonstrate
a specific functional-structural relationship between reward responsivity and microstructure in a white matter
tract with high theoretical relevance. Further, as strong evidence suggests neural circuitry matures hierarchically
(from subcortical to cortical), the proposed project will examine how reward responsivity changes in relation to
developing microstructure in successively maturating segm...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10387432
- **Project number:** 1F32MH127948-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** TEMPLE UNIV OF THE COMMONWEALTH
- **Principal Investigator:** Holly Sullivan-Toole
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $65,994
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-10-01 → 2024-09-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10387432

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10387432, Behavioral and neural mechanisms of reward responsivity across normative and at-risk adolescent development (1F32MH127948-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10387432. Licensed CC0.

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