Increased striatal activity in adolescence benefits learning

Adolescence is associated with enhanced striatal activity in response to rewards. This has been linked to increased risk-taking behavior and negative health outcomes. However, striatal activity is also important for learning, yet it is unknown whether heightened striatal responses in adolescence also benefit cognitive learning performance. In this longitudinal fMRI study (736 scans spanning 5 years in participants ages 8–29), we investigate whether adolescents show enhanced striatal activity during feedback learning, and whether this enhanced activity is associated with better learning performance. Here we report that neural activity indicating sensitivity to informative value of feedback peaks in late adolescence and occurs in dorsal caudate, ventral caudate, and nucleus accumbens. Increased activity in dorsal and ventral caudate predicts better current and future learning performance. This suggests that enhanced striatal activity in adolescents is adaptive for learning and may point to adolescence as a unique life phase for increased feedback-learning performance.