Feedback information is one of the most powerful forces that promotes learning, providing guidance for changes to ongoing behavioral patterns. Previous examinations of feedback learning have largely relied on explicit feedback based on task performance. However, learning is not restricted to explicit feedback and likely involves other forms of more subtle feedback cues. One potential form of this kind of learning may involve internally generated feedback in response to error commission. Whether this error-related response prompts neural and behavioral adaptation that overlaps with, or is distinct from, those evoked by external feedback is largely unknown. To explore this gap, 55 adolescents completed a difficult behavioral inhibition task designed to elicit relatively high rates of error commission during an fMRI session. We examined neural adaptation after accumulating errors (i.e., internally generated negative feedback events) at the group level, as well as the impact of individual differences in error tracking on overall task performance. Group effects show that medial PFC (mPFC) activation tracks accumulating errors; however, reduced tracking of errors is associated with greater total false alarms. These findings suggest that increased mPFC integration of error-related feedback is beneficial for task performance and, in concert with previous findings, suggests a domain-general role for mPFC integration of negative feedback.

Research on adolescence has largely focused on the particular biological and neural changes that place teens at risk for negative outcomes linked to increases in sensation-seeking and risky behavior. However, there is a growing interest in the adaptive function of adolescence, with work highlighting the dual nature of adolescence as a period of potential risk and opportunity. We examined how behavioral and neural sensitivity to risk and reward varies as a function of age using the Balloon Analog Risk Task. Seventy-seven children and adolescents (ages 8–17 years) completed the Balloon Analog Risk Task during an fMRI session. Results indicate that adolescents show greater learning throughout the task. Furthermore, older participants showed increased neural responses to reward in the OFC and ventral striatum, increased activation to risk in the mid-cingulate cortex, as well as increased functional OFC–medial PFC coupling in both risk and reward contexts. Age-related changes in regional activity and interregional connectivity explain the link between age and increases in flexible learning. These results support the idea that adolescents' sensitivity to risk and reward supports adaptive learning and behavioral approaches for reward acquisition.