Key result
The propensity to sign-track in youth was significantly associated with increased externalizing behaviors, such as attention deficits and oppositional defiance, and greater amygdala activation during reward anticipation.
Why the study?
Externalizing behaviors in childhood predict impulse control disorders in adulthood, but the underlying bio-behavioral risk factors are incompletely understood.
Cross-Sectional (n=40)
No
Youth with a propensity to sign-track exhibit externalizing tendencies and an over-reliance on subcortical cue-reactive brain systems.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Sign-tracking may index externalizing risk in preadolescents; leaves open prospective prediction of impulse-control disorders.
Externalizing behaviors in childhood often predict impulse control disorders in adulthood; however, the underlying bio-behavioral risk factors are incompletely understood. In animals, the propensity to sign-track, or the degree to which incentive motivational value is attributed to reward cues, is associated with externalizing-type behaviors and deficits in executive control. Using a Pavlovian conditioned approach paradigm, we quantified sign-tracking in 40 healthy 9-12-year-olds. We also measured parent-reported externalizing behaviors and anticipatory neural activations to outcome-predicting cues using the monetary incentive delay fMRI task. Sign-tracking was associated with attentional and inhibitory control deficits and the degree of amygdala, but not cortical, activation during reward anticipation. These findings support the hypothesis that youth with a propensity to sign-track are prone to externalizing tendencies, with an over-reliance on subcortical cue-reactive brain systems. This research highlights sign-tracking as a promising experimental approach delineating the behavioral and neural circuitry of individuals at risk for externalizing disorders.
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Colaizzi et al. (2023) conducted a cross-sectional in Healthy youth (n=40). Propensity to sign-track vs. Non-sign-trackers was evaluated on Attention deficit/hyperactivity problems (Child Behavior Checklist) (d = 0.90, 95% CI -1.45 to -0.19, p=0.014). The propensity to sign-track in youth was significantly associated with increased externalizing behaviors, such as attention deficits and oppositional defiance, and greater amygdala activation during reward anticipation.
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