Chunk #28 — Neurocognitive and Brain Functional Response Systems and Their Operational Relationships to the Undercontrol/Disinhibition Developmental Pathway
to identify dysregulation of reward-related circuitry as well as prefrontal control in adolescents at high risk for SUD (Heitzeg et al., 2008). Moreover, dysregulation was correlated with externalizing behavior problems. Within the context of high-risk populations, these findings suggest that pre-existing dysregulation of this circuitry from a number of different sources is an early part of the behavioral undercontrol risk pathway. Once substance abuse begins, the system is further perturbed (Heitzeg, Nigg, Yau, Zucker, & Zubieta, in press), presumably leading to further undercontrol.
