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Neurocognitive development of risk aversion from early childhood to adulthood

Publication ,  Journal Article
Paulsen, DJ; Carter, RMK; Platt, ML; Huettel, SA; Brannon, EM
Published in: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
January 3, 2012

Human adults tend to avoid risk. In behavioral economic studies, risk aversion is manifest as a preference for sure gains over uncertain gains. However, children tend to be less averse to risk than adults. Given that many of the brain regions supporting decision-making under risk do not reach maturity until late adolescence or beyond it is possible that mature risk-averse behavior may emerge from the development of decision-making circuitry. To explore this hypothesis, we tested 5- to 8-year-old children, 14- to 16-year-old adolescents, and young adults in a risky-decision task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data acquisition. To our knowledge, this is the youngest sample of children in an fMRI decision-making task. We found a number of decision-related brain regions to increase in activation with age during decision-making, including areas associated with contextual memory retrieval and the incorporation of prior outcomes into the current decision-making strategy, e.g., insula, hippocampus, and amygdala. Further, children who were more riskaverse showed increased activation during decision-making in ventromedial prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum. Our findings indicate that the emergence of adult levels of risk aversion co-occurs with the recruitment of regions supporting decision-making under risk, including the integration of prior outcomes into current decision-making behavior. This pattern of results suggests that individual differences in the development of risk aversion may reflect differences in the maturation of these neural processes. © 2012 Paulsen, Carter, Platt, Huettel and Brannon.

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Published In

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

DOI

EISSN

1662-5161

ISSN

1662-5161

Publication Date

January 3, 2012

Issue

JANUARY 2012

Start / End Page

1 / 17

Related Subject Headings

  • Experimental Psychology
  • 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology
  • 5202 Biological psychology
  • 3209 Neurosciences
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
  • 1701 Psychology
  • 1109 Neurosciences
 

Citation

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Paulsen, D. J., Carter, R. M. K., Platt, M. L., Huettel, S. A., & Brannon, E. M. (2012). Neurocognitive development of risk aversion from early childhood to adulthood. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, (JANUARY 2012), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00178
Paulsen, D. J., R. M. K. Carter, M. L. Platt, S. A. Huettel, and E. M. Brannon. “Neurocognitive development of risk aversion from early childhood to adulthood.” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, no. JANUARY 2012 (January 3, 2012): 1–17. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00178.
Paulsen DJ, Carter RMK, Platt ML, Huettel SA, Brannon EM. Neurocognitive development of risk aversion from early childhood to adulthood. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 2012 Jan 3;(JANUARY 2012):1–17.
Paulsen, D. J., et al. “Neurocognitive development of risk aversion from early childhood to adulthood.” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, no. JANUARY 2012, Jan. 2012, pp. 1–17. Scopus, doi:10.3389/fnhum.2011.00178.
Paulsen DJ, Carter RMK, Platt ML, Huettel SA, Brannon EM. Neurocognitive development of risk aversion from early childhood to adulthood. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 2012 Jan 3;(JANUARY 2012):1–17.

Published In

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

DOI

EISSN

1662-5161

ISSN

1662-5161

Publication Date

January 3, 2012

Issue

JANUARY 2012

Start / End Page

1 / 17

Related Subject Headings

  • Experimental Psychology
  • 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology
  • 5202 Biological psychology
  • 3209 Neurosciences
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
  • 1701 Psychology
  • 1109 Neurosciences