Neural reward processing among children with conduct disorder and mild traumatic brain injury in the ABCD study
Neural reward processing among children with conduct disorder and mild traumatic brain injury in the ABCD study
Background: conduct disorder and childhood head injuries frequently co-occur and are linked to a higher risk of later delinquency. While both are known to disrupt reward-related neural circuits, this study investigated whether their combined presence leads to a unique disruption in these pathways, potentially accounting for the increased risk of delinquency.
Methods: using neuroimaging data from the baseline (age 9–10) assessment from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, four groups were compared: children with conduct disorder (CD, n = 588), a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI, n = 1,216), both (mTBI+CD, n = 252), and typically developing controls (TD, n = 705). Neural activation in eight regions of interest (amygdala, hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, caudal anterior cingulate cortex, rostral anterior cingulate cortex, medial orbitofrontal cortex, thalamus, and insula) during reward anticipation and receipt were assessed during the monetary incentive delay task.
Results: after controlling for several covariates, including sex, ADHD, and internalizing problems, the mTBI+CD group displayed greater left amygdala and hippocampal activation during reward receipt compared to all other groups. While they displayed increased activation in the right hippocampus and thalamus compared to TD controls and the right hippocampus compared to the mTBI group, they did not differ from the CD group. No group differences emerged during reward anticipation.
Conclusions: increased left amygdala and hippocampus activation in children with conduct disorder and a history of mild traumatic brain injury may reflect robust encoding of emotionally charged reward experiences, potentially reinforcing memory-guided, reward-seeking behaviors.
e333
Carr, Hannah Rae
9a1d703f-7057-49d9-af3d-a809fd319a2d
Eisenbarth, Hedwig
cb41d32d-c7e3-4be4-844a-cd0b6735ad2c
Golm, Dennis
ae337f61-561e-4d44-9cf3-3e5611c7b484
Waller, Rebecca
7a91f9d2-e265-4df8-b546-913f19047bfa
Brandt, Valerie
e41f5832-70e4-407d-8a15-85b861761656
Carr, Hannah Rae
9a1d703f-7057-49d9-af3d-a809fd319a2d
Eisenbarth, Hedwig
cb41d32d-c7e3-4be4-844a-cd0b6735ad2c
Golm, Dennis
ae337f61-561e-4d44-9cf3-3e5611c7b484
Waller, Rebecca
7a91f9d2-e265-4df8-b546-913f19047bfa
Brandt, Valerie
e41f5832-70e4-407d-8a15-85b861761656
Carr, Hannah Rae, Eisenbarth, Hedwig, Golm, Dennis, Waller, Rebecca and Brandt, Valerie
(2025)
Neural reward processing among children with conduct disorder and mild traumatic brain injury in the ABCD study.
Psychological Medicine, 55, , [e333].
(doi:10.1017/S0033291725102316).
Abstract
Background: conduct disorder and childhood head injuries frequently co-occur and are linked to a higher risk of later delinquency. While both are known to disrupt reward-related neural circuits, this study investigated whether their combined presence leads to a unique disruption in these pathways, potentially accounting for the increased risk of delinquency.
Methods: using neuroimaging data from the baseline (age 9–10) assessment from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, four groups were compared: children with conduct disorder (CD, n = 588), a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI, n = 1,216), both (mTBI+CD, n = 252), and typically developing controls (TD, n = 705). Neural activation in eight regions of interest (amygdala, hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, caudal anterior cingulate cortex, rostral anterior cingulate cortex, medial orbitofrontal cortex, thalamus, and insula) during reward anticipation and receipt were assessed during the monetary incentive delay task.
Results: after controlling for several covariates, including sex, ADHD, and internalizing problems, the mTBI+CD group displayed greater left amygdala and hippocampal activation during reward receipt compared to all other groups. While they displayed increased activation in the right hippocampus and thalamus compared to TD controls and the right hippocampus compared to the mTBI group, they did not differ from the CD group. No group differences emerged during reward anticipation.
Conclusions: increased left amygdala and hippocampus activation in children with conduct disorder and a history of mild traumatic brain injury may reflect robust encoding of emotionally charged reward experiences, potentially reinforcing memory-guided, reward-seeking behaviors.
Text
Revised_Manuscript_071024
- Accepted Manuscript
Text
neural-reward-processing-among-children-with-conduct-disorder-and-mild-traumatic-brain-injury-in-the-abcd-study
- Version of Record
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 14 October 2025
e-pub ahead of print date: 4 November 2025
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 507075
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/507075
ISSN: 0033-2917
PURE UUID: ced1c5d3-4f02-4f98-898c-493a1d213b53
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 26 Nov 2025 17:46
Last modified: 29 Nov 2025 02:59
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
Hannah Rae Carr
Author:
Hedwig Eisenbarth
Author:
Rebecca Waller
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics