Longitudinal development of the anterior insula-nucleus accumbens white matter pathway through adolescence predicts risk taking in young adulthood.

Lauren R Borchers, Chase Antonacci, Josiah K Leong, Ian H Gotlib

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Article in Developmental cognitive neuroscience, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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4 authors.

Lauren R BorchersDepartment of Psychology, Stanford University, 450 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Electronic address: lrborchers@stanford.edu.

Chase AntonacciDepartment of Psychology, Stanford University, 450 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Neurosciences Interdepartmental Program, Stanford University School of Medicine, 290 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Electronic address: cantonac@stanford.edu.

Josiah K LeongDepartment of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, 216 Memorial Hall, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA; Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, 1001 NE J Street, Bentonville, AR 72712, USA. Electronic address: josiah@uark.edu.

Ian H GotlibDepartment of Psychology, Stanford University, 450 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Electronic address: ian.gotlib@stanford.edu.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Adolescence is characterized by increases in risk-taking behaviors, including substance use, sexual activity, and impulsive decision-making. Neuroimaging research implicates the anterior insula (AIns) and nucleus accumbens (NAcc) in risk evaluation and reward motivation; however, little is known about how the structural pathway connecting these regions develops across adolescence or whether variation in its development predicts later risk-taking. In this study, we examined whether longitudinal changes in white-matter connectivity between the AIns and NAcc during adolescence predict risk-taking in early adulthood. A total of 196 youth (ages 9-20 years) contributed 486 diffusion-weighted imaging scans across four waves spanning six years. We reconstructed the AIns-NAcc tract using probabilistic tractography and extracted fractional anisotropy (FA) along the tract. At a fifth assessment (ages 19-23), 105 participants completed the Adolescent and Young Adult Health Questionnaire; exploratory factor analysis identified a risk-taking factor indexing substance use and sexual risk-taking. We used linear mixed-effects models to characterize developmental trajectories of FA and tested their associations with early adult risk-taking, adjusting for biological sex, early life stress, and behavioral sensitivity to reward and punishment. FA increased linearly across adolescence in both hemispheres (right: β=0.17, p < .001; left: β=0.10, p = .023). Critically, individuals exhibiting shallower increases in FA across adolescence in the right hemisphere reported greater engagement in risk-taking behaviors in early adulthood (ΔR

Indexed as

Insular CortexNucleus AccumbensRisk-TakingWhite MatterAdolescentChildDiffusion Magnetic Resonance ImagingDiffusion Tensor ImagingFemaleHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleNeural PathwaysYoung AdultAdolescenceAnterior insulaDiffusion-weighted imagingNucleus accumbensRisk takingWhite matter

Identifiers

PMID42054974

DOI10.1016/j.dcn.2026.101730

PMCPMC13137198

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