attenuations in the ventral striatum when adolescents were required to assess an incentive cue, but showed elevations during reward anticipation (Geier et al. 2010), suggesting that adolescents may have limited capacity to assess potential reward outcomes and have exaggerated reactivity when anticipating reward compared with adults. Underlying the hyperactivation of the striatum is an increase in ventral striatal dopamine release during rewarding events (Aarts et al. 2010; Koepp et al. 1998). Greater dopamine release may lead adolescents to seek additional rewards, resulting in a reinforcing cycle of reward-seeking behavior.
