ArticleThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience2016
Individual Differences in Cognitive Control Circuit Anatomy Link Sensation Seeking, Impulsivity, and Substance Use.
Article in The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 84 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
84 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Brain gray matter structures associated with trait impulsivity: A systematic review and voxel-based meta-analysis.Human brain mapping · 2021Pooled it
- Neuroimaging meta-analysis of cannabis use studies reveals convergent functional alterations in brain regions supporting cognitive control and reward processing.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2018Pooled it
- Socio-affective and cognitive predictors of social adaptation in vulnerable contexts.PloS one · 2019Trial
- Cortical thickness is not associated with current depression in a clinical treatment study.Human brain mapping · 2017Trial
- Stimulation uncertainty reveals distinct mechanisms of sensation seeking and impulsivity.Communications psychology · 2026Article
- Neuroanatomy reflects individual variability in impulsivity in youth.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Disordered eating in adolescence: the roles of sensation seeking, weight status, and behavioral difficulties.Journal of eating disorders · 2026Article
- The Link Between Emotional Regulation and Impulsivity in Childhood Anxiety Disorder.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Aggressiveness that makes one grow: a destructive or vital force in adolescence? Reflections and working hypotheses.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- Genetic influences for distinct impulsivity domains are differentially associated with early substance use initiation: Results from the ABCD Study.Psychological medicine · 2025Article
- Genetic, psychological, and environmental factors are uniquely associated with onset of alcohol use in the adolescent brain cognitive development (ABCD) study.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Genomic structural equation modeling of impulsivity and risk-taking traits reveals three latent factors distinctly associated with brain structure and development.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- The Interplay Between Psychological and Neurobiological Predictors of Weight Regain: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Prefrontal Oxygenation in a Subjective Decision on a Situational Danger Assessment Task: Personality Traits and Decision-Making Styles Involvement.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Locomotor Response to Novelty: What Does It Tell Us?Developmental psychobiology · 2025Article
- Sensory seeking and its influence on sustained attention performance in adult males with Autism Spectrum Condition.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Differential pathways from personality to risk-taking: how extraversion and negative emotionality shape decision-making through overconfidence.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Dual-systems models of the genetic architecture of impulsive personality traits: neurogenetic evidence of distinct but related factors.Psychological medicine · 2024Article
- Neurogenetic and multi-omic sources of overlap among sensation seeking, alcohol consumption, and alcohol use disorder.Addiction biology · 2024Article
- Body, image, and digital technology in adolescence and contemporary youth culture.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Review
24 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Individuals vary widely in their tendency to seek stimulation and act impulsively, early developing traits with genetic origins. Failures to regulate these behaviors increase risk for maladaptive outcomes including substance abuse. Here, we explored the neuroanatomical correlates of sensation seeking and impulsivity in healthy young adults. Our analyses revealed links between sensation seeking and reduced cortical thickness that were preferentially localized to regions implicated in cognitive control, including anterior cingulate and middle frontal gyrus (n = 1015). These associations generalized to self-reported motor impulsivity, replicated in an independent group (n = 219), and correlated with heightened alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine use. Critically, the relations between sensation seeking and brain structure were evident in participants without a history of alcohol or tobacco use, suggesting that observed associations with anatomy are not solely a consequence of substance use. These results demonstrate that individual differences in the tendency to seek stimulation, act on impulse, and engage in substance use are correlated with the anatomical structure of cognitive control circuitry. Our findings suggest that, in healthy populations, covariation across these complex multidimensional behaviors may in part originate from a common underlying biology. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Impaired cognitive control may result in a tendency to seek stimulation impulsively and an increased risk for maladaptive outcomes, including substance abuse. Here, we examined the structural correlates of sensation seeking and impulsivity in a large cohort of healthy young adults. Our analyses revealed links between sensation seeking and reduced cortical thickness that were preferentially localized to regions implicated in cognitive control, including anterior cingulate and middle frontal gyrus. The observed associations generalized to motor impulsivity, replicated in an independent group, and predicted heightened alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine use. These data indicate that normal variability in cognitive control system anatomy predicts sensation seeking and motor impulsivity in the healthy populations, potentially increasing risk for substance use disorders.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.