Altered neurobehavioral reward response predicts psychotic-like experiences in youth exposed to cannabis prenatally
Carolyn M. Amir, Dara G. Ghahremani, Sarah E. Chang et al. preprint
Prenatal cannabis exposure is linked to psychotic-like experiences in youth, and this relationship may involve disrupted reward-related brain function. In a large longitudinal study of children aged 9–10 at baseline, those with prenatal cannabis exposure (652 children) showed blunted neural response to reward anticipation, which was associated with psychotic-like experiences and predicted psychosis symptoms in middle adolescence. Dampened behavioral reward sensitivity was also associated with psychotic-like experiences across follow-ups. Trait-level measures of reward motivation and impulsivity were more strongly linked to psychotic-like experiences in children with prenatal cannabis exposure. Blunted activation in reward-related brain regions may be a biomarker for increased psychosis risk.