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Prosocial Reward Learning in Children and Adolescents.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Kwak, Y; Huettel, SA
Published in: Frontiers in psychology
January 2016

Adolescence is a period of increased sensitivity to social contexts. To evaluate how social context sensitivity changes over development-and influences reward learning-we investigated how children and adolescents perceive and integrate rewards for oneself and others during a dynamic risky decision-making task. Children and adolescents (N = 75, 8-16 years) performed the Social Gambling Task (SGT, Kwak et al., 2014) and completed a set of questionnaires measuring other-regarding behavior. In the SGT, participants choose amongst four card decks that have different payout structures for oneself and for a charity. We examined patterns of choices, overall decision strategies, and how reward outcomes led to trial-by-trial adjustments in behavior, as estimated using a reinforcement-learning model. Performance of children and adolescents was compared to data from a previously collected sample of adults (N = 102) performing the identical task. We found that that children/adolescents were not only more sensitive to rewards directed to the charity than self but also showed greater prosocial tendencies on independent measures of other-regarding behavior. Children and adolescents also showed less use of a strategy that prioritizes rewards for self at the expense of rewards for others. These results support the conclusion that, compared to adults, children and adolescents show greater sensitivity to outcomes for others when making decisions and learning about potential rewards.

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Published In

Frontiers in psychology

DOI

EISSN

1664-1078

ISSN

1664-1078

Publication Date

January 2016

Volume

7

Start / End Page

1539

Related Subject Headings

  • 52 Psychology
  • 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
  • 1701 Psychology
 

Citation

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Kwak, Y., & Huettel, S. A. (2016). Prosocial Reward Learning in Children and Adolescents. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1539. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01539
Kwak, Youngbin, and Scott A. Huettel. “Prosocial Reward Learning in Children and Adolescents.Frontiers in Psychology 7 (January 2016): 1539. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01539.
Kwak Y, Huettel SA. Prosocial Reward Learning in Children and Adolescents. Frontiers in psychology. 2016 Jan;7:1539.
Kwak, Youngbin, and Scott A. Huettel. “Prosocial Reward Learning in Children and Adolescents.Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 7, Jan. 2016, p. 1539. Epmc, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01539.
Kwak Y, Huettel SA. Prosocial Reward Learning in Children and Adolescents. Frontiers in psychology. 2016 Jan;7:1539.

Published In

Frontiers in psychology

DOI

EISSN

1664-1078

ISSN

1664-1078

Publication Date

January 2016

Volume

7

Start / End Page

1539

Related Subject Headings

  • 52 Psychology
  • 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
  • 1701 Psychology