Abstract
Adolescence has been linked to an enhanced tolerance of uncertainty and risky behavior and is possibly connected to an increased response toward rewards. However, previous research has produced inconsistent findings. To investigate whether these findings are due to different reward probabilities used in the experimental design, we extended a monetary incentive delay (MID) task by including three different reward probabilities. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, 25 healthy adolescents and 22 adults were studied during anticipation of rewards in the VS. Differently colored cue stimuli indicated either a monetary or verbal trial and symbolized different reward probabilities, to which the participants were blinded. Results demonstrated faster reaction times for lower reward probabilities (33%) in both age groups. Adolescents were slower through all conditions and had less activation on a neural level. Imaging results showed a three-way interaction between age group x condition x reward probability with differences in percent signal change between adolescents and adults for the high reward probabilities (66%, 88%) while adolescents demonstrated differences for the lowest (33%). Therefore, previous inconsistent findings could be due to different reward probabilities, which makes examining these crucial for a better understanding of adolescent and adult behavior.
Highlights
Adolescence is a developmental period associated with changes in tolerance of uncertainty (Tymula et al, 2012; van den Bos and Hertwig, 2017)
Reaction Times A 2 × 2 × 3 mixed ANOVA with reaction time as dependent variable revealed a main effect of condition [F(1,45) = 108.71, p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.707], with both age groups being faster in the monetary condition compared to the verbal condition
This study offers a first insight into the processing of different reward probabilities in adults and adolescents
Summary
Adolescence is a developmental period associated with changes in tolerance of uncertainty (Tymula et al, 2012; van den Bos and Hertwig, 2017). Adolescents are often involved in risky behaviors and higher sensation and novelty seeking (van Duijvenvoorde et al, 2016) This increased attentiveness to sensations and novelty paired with a heightened tolerance of uncertainty may in turn be connected to an increased reward response, leading to greater motivated behavior among adolescents to receive rewards (Braams et al, 2015). Reward Anticipation of Reward Probabilities adolescents’ altered sensitivity during reward anticipation has produced inconsistent findings, including both adolescent hyper(Silverman et al, 2015) and hypoactivation (Bjork et al, 2010). This appears to be highly task dependent
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