Sex differences in pubertal associations with fronto-accumbal white matter morphometry: Implications for understanding sensitivity to reward and punishment

• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117598
• Publication Date: 2020-11-26T17:39:11Z
• Authors: Rajpreet Chahal; Kristen Delevich; Jaclyn S. Kirshen...; Lauren R. Borchers; Tiffany C. Ho; Ian H. Gotlib
• Keywords: Orbitofrontal cortex; Punishment (psychology); Association (psychology)

Researchers have reported sex-differentiated maturation of white matter (WM) during puberty. It is not clear, however, whether such distinctions contribute to documented sex differences in sensitivity reward and punishment adolescence. Given the role orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) nucleus accumbens (NAcc) punishment-related behaviors, we tested a cross-sectional study males females (N = 156, 89 females; ages 9–14 years) differ association between pubertal stage fixel-based morphometry WM fibers connecting OFC NAcc (i.e., fronto-accumbal tract). Further, examined associations measures self-reported punishment. Pubertal was positively associated with fiber density cross-section (FDC) males, but females. Consistent previous reports, higher than did females, although combined FDC related either sex. Meanwhile, only showed negative tract Follow-up analyses revealed that cross-section, density, as well all participants. Our findings suggest there are puberty-related tract, this lower adolescent compared