Compulsivity is linked to reduced adolescentdevelopment of goal-directed control andfrontostriatal functional connectivity

Abstract

A characteristic of adaptive behavior is its goal-directed nature. Anability to act in a goal-directed manner is progressively refinedduring development, but this refinement can be impacted by theemergence of psychiatric disorders. Disorders of compulsivity havebeen framed computationally as a deficit in model-based control,and have been linked also to abnormal frontostriatal connectivity.However, the developmental trajectory of model-based control,including an interplay between its maturation and an emergenceof compulsivity, has not been characterized. Availing of a largesample of healthy adolescents (n=569) aged 14 to 24 y, we showbehaviorally that over the course of adolescence there is a within-person increase in model-based control, and this is more pro-nounced in younger participants. Using a bivariate latent changescore model, we provide evidence that the presence of higher com-pulsivity traits is associated with an atypical profile of this develop-mental maturation in model-based control. Resting-state fMRI datafrom a subset of the behaviorally assessed subjects (n=230)revealed that compulsivity is associated with a less pronouncedchange of within-subject developmental remodeling of functionalconnectivity, specifically between the striatum and a frontoparietalnetwork. Thus, in an otherwise clinically healthy population sample,in early development, individual differences in compulsivity arelinked to the developmental trajectory of model-based controland a remodeling of frontostriatal connectivity.