The developmental imaging study tested 40 subjects between 10 and 43 years in a temporal discounting task [29]. With increasing age there was progressively decreasing steepness of temporal discounting of the subjective value of the reward with increasing delays. Lateral fronto-striato-cerebellar and parieto-temporal regions were significantly positively age-correlated, while medial limbic cortico-striatal areas were negatively age-correlated [29]. Importantly, there was an interaction between reduced discounting and age, where both enhanced age and reduced discounting was associated with increased activation in ventromedial orbitofrontal cortex (vmOFC) and progressively decreased activation in ventral striatum, a region that processes proximal rewards [61]. Increasing age was furthermore associated with progressively enhanced inter-regional connectivity between vmOFC and ventral striatum suggesting progressive top-down inhibition of the more immature limbic hyper-responsiveness to immediate rewards, leading to a more mature decreased discounting style. In addition, there was progressively increased functional inter-regional connectivity with age between performance and age-correlated vmOFC and lateral inferior fronto-insular and parietal connections during delayed choices, suggesting progressively stronger recruitment and activation coherence of vmOFC with lateral fronto-parietal temporal foresight mechanisms to support longer-term foresighted decisions
