ERIC Number: EJ992424
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-May
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0012-1649
EISSN: N/A
Dopaminergic Modulation of Incentive Motivation in Adolescence: Age-Related Changes in Signaling, Individual Differences, and Implications for the Development of Self-Regulation
Luciana, Monica; Wahlstrom, Dustin; Porter, James N.; Collins, Paul F.
Developmental Psychology, v48 n3 p844-861 May 2012
Behavioral activation that is associated with incentive-reward motivation increases in adolescence relative to childhood and adulthood. This quadratic developmental pattern is generally supported by behavioral and experimental neuroscience findings. It is suggested that a focus on changes in dopamine neurotransmission is informative in understanding the mechanism for this adolescent increase in reward-related behavioral activation and subsequent decline into adulthood. Evidence is presented to indicate that incentive-reward motivation is modulated by mesoaccumbens dopamine, and that it increases in adolescence before declining into adulthood because of normative developmental changes at the molecular level. Potential mechanisms of variation in functional mesoaccumbens dopamine transmission are discussed with a focus on the interplay between tonic and phasic modes of dopamine transmission in modulating both general incentive-motivational biases and the efficacy of reward learning during exposure to novel reward experiences. Interactions between individual difference factors and these age-related trends are discussed. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)
Descriptors: Evidence, Motivation, Age Differences, Rewards, Cognitive Development, Individual Differences, Incentives, Adolescents, Biochemistry, Metacognition, Brain Hemisphere Functions, Correlation, Adolescent Development
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A