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Şen HH, Kiefer SL, Aksu E, Lucca K. Developmental differences in children and adults' enforcement of explore versus exploit search strategies in the United States and Turkey. Dev Sci 2024; 27:e13520. [PMID: 38664600 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13520] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Revised: 03/20/2024] [Accepted: 04/06/2024] [Indexed: 08/20/2024]
Abstract
Across development, as children acquire a deeper understanding of their environment, they explore less and take advantage, or "exploit," what they already know. Here, we test whether children also enforce exploration-oriented search behaviors onto others. Specifically, we ask whether children are more likely to encourage a search agent to explore versus exploit their environment, and whether this pattern varies across childhood (between 3 and 6 years). We also ask whether this pattern differs between children and adults, and generalizes across two different sociocultural contexts-Turkey and the United States-that differ on dimensions that might relate to children's decisions about exploration (e.g., curiosity-focused educational practices, attitudes toward uncertainty avoidance). Participants (N = 358) watched an agent search for rewards and were asked at various points whether the agent should "stay" (exploit) in their current location, or "go" (explore) to a new location. At all points in the experiment, children enforced exploration significantly more often than adults. Early in the agent's search, children in the US enforced exploration more often than children in Turkey; later in the search, younger children (from both sociocultural contexts) were more likely to continue enforcing exploration compared to older children. These findings highlight that children are not only highly exploratory themselves, but also enforce exploration onto others-underscoring the central role that exploration plays in driving early cognitive development across diverse sociocultural contexts. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: The current study examined developmental and cross-cultural differences in children and adults' enforcement of explore-exploit search strategies. Children in the US and Turkey enforced exploration more than adults, who enforced exploitation more often; results were generally consistent across cultures with small differences. Mirroring developmental changes in children's own search behavior; the tendency to enforce exploration decreased between 3- to 6-years of age. Findings underscore the central role of an "exploration mindset" in children's early decision-making-even when exploration has no direct benefits to the child themselves.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hilal H Şen
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Akureyri, Akureyri, Iceland
- Department of Psychology, MEF University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Sarah L Kiefer
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
| | - Ece Aksu
- Department of Psychology, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Kelsey Lucca
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
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2
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Wan Q, Sloutsky VM. Exploration, Distributed Attention, and Development of Category Learning. Psychol Sci 2024:9567976241258146. [PMID: 39158984 DOI: 10.1177/09567976241258146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Category learning is a crucial aspect of cognition that involves organizing entities into equivalence classes. Whereas adults tend to focus on category-relevant features, young children often distribute attention between relevant and irrelevant ones. The reasons for children's distributed attention are not fully understood. In two category-learning experiments with adults and with children aged 4, 5, and 6 (N = 201), we examined potential drivers of distributed attention, including (a) immature filtering of distractors and (b) the general tendency for exploration or broad information sampling. By eliminating distractor competition, we reduced filtering demands. Despite identifying the features critical for accurate categorization, children, regardless of their categorization performance, continued sampling more information than was necessary. These results indicate that the tendency to sample information extensively contributes to distributed attention in young children. We identify candidate drivers of this tendency that need to be examined in future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qianqian Wan
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University
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3
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Iwasaki S, Moriguchi Y, Sekiyama K. Balancing exploration and exploitation? The impact of cost and inhibitory control on information gathering in early childhood. BRITISH JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2024. [PMID: 39152735 DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2023] [Accepted: 08/05/2024] [Indexed: 08/19/2024]
Abstract
The information-seeking behaviour of adults focuses on optimizing the gathering and utilizing information to minimize search costs. In contrast, children tend to engage in information search during decision-making with less consideration for costs. This difference in behaviour is believed to be linked to the development of executive functions. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the relationship between executive function and cost-related information-gathering behaviour. We assessed 56 children aged 4-6 years, involving three tasks: an information-gathering task, an inhibitory control and a working memory task. In the information-gathering task, children participated in both non-cost and cost conditions, where they were given the opportunity to freely gather information or incur a cost to acquire information. The findings revealed that children with higher inhibitory control tended to gather less information when a cost was involved. This highlights the important role of inhibitory control in shaping information-seeking behaviour in early childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shoko Iwasaki
- Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
- Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | | | - Kaoru Sekiyama
- Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
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4
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Blanco NJ, Sloutsky VM. Exploration, exploitation, and development: Developmental shifts in decision-making. Child Dev 2024; 95:1287-1298. [PMID: 38314828 PMCID: PMC11223977 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.14070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2024]
Abstract
Decision-making requires balancing exploration with exploitation, yet children are highly exploratory, with exploration decreasing with development. Less is known about what drives these changes. We examined the development of decision-making in 188 three- to eight-year-old children (M = 64 months; 98 girls) and 26 adults (M = 19 years; 13 women). Children were recruited from ethnically diverse suburban middle-class neighborhoods of Columbus, Ohio, USA. Results indicate that mature reward-based choices emerge relatively late in development, with children tending to over-explore. Computational modeling suggests that this exploration is systematic rather than random, as children tend to avoid repeating choices made on the previous trial. This pattern of exploration (reminiscent of novelty preference) decreased with development, whereas the tendency to exploit increased.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathaniel J Blanco
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
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5
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Zhu Z, Kuchibhotla KV. Performance errors during rodent learning reflect a dynamic choice strategy. Curr Biol 2024; 34:2107-2117.e5. [PMID: 38677279 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.04.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2023] [Revised: 02/10/2024] [Accepted: 04/08/2024] [Indexed: 04/29/2024]
Abstract
Humans, even as infants, use cognitive strategies, such as exploration and hypothesis testing, to learn about causal interactions in the environment. In animal learning studies, however, it is challenging to disentangle higher-order behavioral strategies from errors arising from imperfect task knowledge or inherent biases. Here, we trained head-fixed mice on a wheel-based auditory two-choice task and exploited the intra- and inter-animal variability to understand the drivers of errors during learning. During learning, performance errors are dominated by a choice bias, which, despite appearing maladaptive, reflects a dynamic strategy. Early in learning, mice develop an internal model of the task contingencies such that violating their expectation of reward on correct trials (by using short blocks of non-rewarded "probe" trials) leads to an abrupt shift in strategy. During the probe block, mice behave more accurately with less bias, thereby using their learned stimulus-action knowledge to test whether the outcome contingencies have changed. Despite having this knowledge, mice continued to exhibit a strong choice bias during reinforced trials. This choice bias operates on a timescale of tens to hundreds of trials with a dynamic structure, shifting between left, right, and unbiased epochs. Biased epochs also coincided with faster motor kinematics. Although bias decreased across learning, expert mice continued to exhibit short bouts of biased choices interspersed with longer bouts of unbiased choices and higher performance. These findings collectively suggest that during learning, rodents actively probe their environment in a structured manner to refine their decision-making and maintain long-term flexibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziyi Zhu
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Johns Hopkins Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; The Solomon Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Kishore V Kuchibhotla
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Johns Hopkins Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; The Solomon Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
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6
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Harms MB, Xu Y, Green CS, Woodard K, Wilson R, Pollak SD. The structure and development of explore-exploit decision making. Cogn Psychol 2024; 150:101650. [PMID: 38461609 PMCID: PMC11275514 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2024.101650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2023] [Revised: 03/05/2024] [Accepted: 03/06/2024] [Indexed: 03/12/2024]
Abstract
A critical component of human learning reflects the balance people must achieve between focusing on the utility of what they know versus openness to what they have yet to experience. How individuals decide whether to explore new options versus exploit known options has garnered growing interest in recent years. Yet, the component processes underlying decisions to explore and whether these processes change across development remain poorly understood. By contrasting a variety of tasks that measure exploration in slightly different ways, we found that decisions about whether to explore reflect (a) random exploration that is not explicitly goal-directed and (b) directed exploration to purposefully reduce uncertainty. While these components similarly characterized the decision-making of both youth and adults, younger participants made decisions that were less strategic, but more exploratory and flexible, than those of adults. These findings are discussed in terms of how people adapt to and learn from changing environments over time.Data has been made available in the Open Science Foundation platform (osf.io).
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Affiliation(s)
- Madeline B Harms
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1202 West Johnson Street, Madison, WI 53706, United States.
| | - Yuyan Xu
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1202 West Johnson Street, Madison, WI 53706, United States
| | - C Shawn Green
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1202 West Johnson Street, Madison, WI 53706, United States
| | - Kristina Woodard
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1202 West Johnson Street, Madison, WI 53706, United States
| | - Robert Wilson
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, 1503 E. University Blvd. (Building 68), Tucson, AZ 85721, United States
| | - Seth D Pollak
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1202 West Johnson Street, Madison, WI 53706, United States
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7
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Roark CL, Thakkar V, Chandrasekaran B, Centanni TM. Auditory Category Learning in Children With Dyslexia. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2024; 67:974-988. [PMID: 38354099 PMCID: PMC11001431 DOI: 10.1044/2023_jslhr-23-00361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2023] [Revised: 09/15/2023] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 02/16/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE Developmental dyslexia is proposed to involve selective procedural memory deficits with intact declarative memory. Recent research in the domain of category learning has demonstrated that adults with dyslexia have selective deficits in Information-Integration (II) category learning that is proposed to rely on procedural learning mechanisms and unaffected Rule-Based (RB) category learning that is proposed to rely on declarative, hypothesis testing mechanisms. Importantly, learning mechanisms also change across development, with distinct developmental trajectories in both procedural and declarative learning mechanisms. It is unclear how dyslexia in childhood should influence auditory category learning, a critical skill for speech perception and reading development. METHOD We examined auditory category learning performance and strategies in 7- to 12-year-old children with dyslexia (n = 25; nine females, 16 males) and typically developing controls (n = 25; 13 females, 12 males). Participants learned nonspeech auditory categories of spectrotemporal ripples that could be optimally learned with either RB selective attention to the temporal modulation dimension or procedural integration of information across spectral and temporal dimensions. We statistically compared performance using mixed-model analyses of variance and identified strategies using decision-bound computational models. RESULTS We found that children with dyslexia have an apparent selective RB category learning deficit, rather than a selective II learning deficit observed in prior work in adults with dyslexia. CONCLUSION These results suggest that the important skill of auditory category learning is impacted in children with dyslexia and throughout development, individuals with dyslexia may develop compensatory strategies that preserve declarative learning while developing difficulties in procedural learning. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25148519.
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Affiliation(s)
- Casey L. Roark
- Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, PA
- Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, PA
| | - Vishal Thakkar
- Department of Psychology, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth
| | - Bharath Chandrasekaran
- Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, PA
- Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, PA
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8
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Monosov IE. Curiosity: primate neural circuits for novelty and information seeking. Nat Rev Neurosci 2024; 25:195-208. [PMID: 38263217 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-023-00784-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2024]
Abstract
For many years, neuroscientists have investigated the behavioural, computational and neurobiological mechanisms that support value-based decisions, revealing how humans and animals make choices to obtain rewards. However, many decisions are influenced by factors other than the value of physical rewards or second-order reinforcers (such as money). For instance, animals (including humans) frequently explore novel objects that have no intrinsic value solely because they are novel and they exhibit the desire to gain information to reduce their uncertainties about the future, even if this information cannot lead to reward or assist them in accomplishing upcoming tasks. In this Review, I discuss how circuits in the primate brain responsible for detecting, predicting and assessing novelty and uncertainty regulate behaviour and give rise to these behavioural components of curiosity. I also briefly discuss how curiosity-related behaviours arise during postnatal development and point out some important reasons for the persistence of curiosity across generations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilya E Monosov
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Department of Neurosurgery, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Pain Center, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
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9
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Xu Y, Harms MB, Green CS, Wilson RC, Pollak SD. Childhood unpredictability and the development of exploration. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2303869120. [PMID: 38011553 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2303869120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2023] [Accepted: 09/12/2023] [Indexed: 11/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Early in development, the process of exploration helps children gather new information that fosters learning about the world. Yet, it is unclear how childhood experiences may influence the way humans approach new learning. What influences decisions to exploit known, familiar options versus trying a novel alternative? We found that childhood unpredictability, characterized by unpredictable caregiving and unstable living environments, was associated with reduced exploratory behavior. This effect holds while controlling for individual differences, including anxiety and stress. Individuals who perceived their childhoods as unpredictable explored less and were instead more likely to repeat previous choices (habitual responding). They were also more sensitive to uncertainty than to potential rewards, even when the familiar options yielded lower rewards. We examined these effects across multiple task contexts and via both in-person (N = 78) and online replication (N = 84) studies among 10- to 13-y-olds. Results are discussed in terms of the potential cascading effects of unpredictable environments on the development of decision-making and the effects of early experience on subsequent learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuyan Xu
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706
| | - Madeline B Harms
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN 55812
| | - C Shawn Green
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706
| | - Robert C Wilson
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
- Cognitive Science Program, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85716
| | - Seth D Pollak
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706
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10
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Giron AP, Ciranka S, Schulz E, van den Bos W, Ruggeri A, Meder B, Wu CM. Developmental changes in exploration resemble stochastic optimization. Nat Hum Behav 2023; 7:1955-1967. [PMID: 37591981 PMCID: PMC10663152 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01662-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Accepted: 06/21/2023] [Indexed: 08/19/2023]
Abstract
Human development is often described as a 'cooling off' process, analogous to stochastic optimization algorithms that implement a gradual reduction in randomness over time. Yet there is ambiguity in how to interpret this analogy, due to a lack of concrete empirical comparisons. Using data from n = 281 participants ages 5 to 55, we show that cooling off does not only apply to the single dimension of randomness. Rather, human development resembles an optimization process of multiple learning parameters, for example, reward generalization, uncertainty-directed exploration and random temperature. Rapid changes in parameters occur during childhood, but these changes plateau and converge to efficient values in adulthood. We show that while the developmental trajectory of human parameters is strikingly similar to several stochastic optimization algorithms, there are important differences in convergence. None of the optimization algorithms tested were able to discover reliably better regions of the strategy space than adult participants on this task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna P Giron
- Human and Machine Cognition Lab, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Attention and Affect Lab, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Simon Ciranka
- Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berlin, Germany
| | - Eric Schulz
- MPRG Computational Principles of Intelligence, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Wouter van den Bos
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Azzurra Ruggeri
- MPRG iSearch, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
- School of Social Sciences and Technology, Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany
- Central European University, Vienna, Austria
| | - Björn Meder
- MPRG iSearch, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
- Institute for Mind, Brain and Behavior, Health and Medical University, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Charley M Wu
- Human and Machine Cognition Lab, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
- Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
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11
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Lloyd A, Viding E, McKay R, Furl N. Understanding patch foraging strategies across development. Trends Cogn Sci 2023; 27:1085-1098. [PMID: 37500422 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2023] [Revised: 07/05/2023] [Accepted: 07/06/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
Patch foraging is a near-ubiquitous behaviour across the animal kingdom and characterises many decision-making domains encountered by humans. We review how a disposition to explore in adolescence may reflect the evolutionary conditions under which hunter-gatherers foraged for resources. We propose that neurocomputational mechanisms responsible for reward processing, learning, and cognitive control facilitate the transition from exploratory strategies in adolescence to exploitative strategies in adulthood - where individuals capitalise on known resources. This developmental transition may be disrupted by psychopathology, as there is emerging evidence of biases in explore/exploit choices in mental health problems. Explore/exploit choices may be an informative marker for mental health across development and future research should consider this feature of decision-making as a target for clinical intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex Lloyd
- Clinical, Educational, and Health Psychology, Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AP, UK.
| | - Essi Viding
- Clinical, Educational, and Health Psychology, Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AP, UK
| | - Ryan McKay
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham Hill, Egham, TW20 0EX, UK
| | - Nicholas Furl
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham Hill, Egham, TW20 0EX, UK
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12
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Lapidow E, Bonawitz E. What's in the Box? Preschoolers Consider Ambiguity, Expected Value, and Information for Future Decisions in Explore-Exploit Tasks. Open Mind (Camb) 2023; 7:855-878. [PMID: 37946850 PMCID: PMC10631797 DOI: 10.1162/opmi_a_00110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2023] [Accepted: 09/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Self-directed exploration in childhood appears driven by a desire to resolve uncertainties in order to learn more about the world. However, in adult decision-making, the choice to explore new information rather than exploit what is already known takes many factors beyond uncertainty (such as expected utilities and costs) into account. The evidence for whether young children are sensitive to complex, contextual factors in making exploration decisions is limited and mixed. Here, we investigate whether modifying uncertain options influences explore-exploit behavior in preschool-aged children (48-68 months). Over the course of three experiments, we manipulate uncertain options' ambiguity, expected value, and potential to improve epistemic state for future exploration in a novel forced-choice design. We find evidence that young children are influenced by each of these factors, suggesting that early, self-directed exploration involves sophisticated, context-sensitive decision-making under uncertainty.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth Lapidow
- Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
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13
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Molinaro G, Cogliati Dezza I, Bühler SK, Moutsiana C, Sharot T. Multifaceted information-seeking motives in children. Nat Commun 2023; 14:5505. [PMID: 37679315 PMCID: PMC10485006 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40971-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2022] [Accepted: 08/18/2023] [Indexed: 09/09/2023] Open
Abstract
From an early age, children need to gather information to learn about their environment. Deciding which knowledge to pursue can be difficult because information can serve several, sometimes competing, purposes. Here, we examine the developmental trajectories of such diverse information-seeking motives. Over five experiments involving 521 children (aged 4-12), we find that school-age children integrate three key factors into their information-seeking choices: whether information reduces uncertainty, is useful in directing action, and is likely to be positive. Choices that likely reveal positive information and are useful for action emerge as early as age 4, followed by choices that reduce uncertainty (at ~age 5). Our results suggest that motives related to usefulness and uncertainty reduction become stronger with age, while the tendency to seek positive news does not show a statistically significant change throughout development. This study reveals how the relative importance of diverging, sometimes conflicting, information-seeking motives emerges throughout development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gaia Molinaro
- Affective Brain Lab, Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, WC1H 0AP, UK.
- Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London, WC1B 5EH, UK.
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA, 94704, USA.
| | - Irene Cogliati Dezza
- Affective Brain Lab, Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, WC1H 0AP, UK
- Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London, WC1B 5EH, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Sarah Katharina Bühler
- Affective Brain Lab, Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, WC1H 0AP, UK
- Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London, WC1B 5EH, UK
| | - Christina Moutsiana
- Department of Social Sciences, University of Westminster, London, W1W 6UW, UK
| | - Tali Sharot
- Affective Brain Lab, Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, WC1H 0AP, UK.
- Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London, WC1B 5EH, UK.
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
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14
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Nussenbaum K, Martin RE, Maulhardt S, Yang Y(J, Bizzell-Hatcher G, Bhatt NS, Koenig M, Rosenbaum GM, O'Doherty JP, Cockburn J, Hartley CA. Novelty and uncertainty differentially drive exploration across development. eLife 2023; 12:e84260. [PMID: 37585251 PMCID: PMC10431916 DOI: 10.7554/elife.84260] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2022] [Accepted: 08/07/2023] [Indexed: 08/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Across the lifespan, individuals frequently choose between exploiting known rewarding options or exploring unknown alternatives. A large body of work has suggested that children may explore more than adults. However, because novelty and reward uncertainty are often correlated, it is unclear how they differentially influence decision-making across development. Here, children, adolescents, and adults (ages 8-27 years, N = 122) completed an adapted version of a recently developed value-guided decision-making task that decouples novelty and uncertainty. In line with prior studies, we found that exploration decreased with increasing age. Critically, participants of all ages demonstrated a similar bias to select choice options with greater novelty, whereas aversion to reward uncertainty increased into adulthood. Computational modeling of participant choices revealed that whereas adolescents and adults demonstrated attenuated uncertainty aversion for more novel choice options, children's choices were not influenced by reward uncertainty.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Sean Maulhardt
- New York UniversityNew YorkUnited States
- University of MarylandCollege ParkUnited States
| | - Yi (Jen) Yang
- New York UniversityNew YorkUnited States
- Temple UniversityPhiladelphiaUnited States
| | | | | | - Maximilian Koenig
- New York UniversityNew YorkUnited States
- Leiden UniversityLeidenNetherlands
| | - Gail M Rosenbaum
- New York UniversityNew YorkUnited States
- Geisinger Health SystemDanvilleUnited States
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15
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Zhuang W, Niebaum J, Munakata Y. Changes in adaptation to time horizons across development. Dev Psychol 2023; 59:1532-1542. [PMID: 37166865 PMCID: PMC10524449 DOI: 10.1037/dev0001529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
When making decisions, the amount of time remaining matters. When time horizons are long, exploring unknown options can inform later decisions, but when time horizons are short, exploiting known options should be prioritized. While adults and adolescents adapt their exploration in this way, it is unclear when such adaptation emerges and how individuals behave when time horizons are ambiguous, as in many real-life situations. We examined these questions by having 5- to 6-year-olds (N = 43), 11- to 12-year-olds (N = 40), and adult college students (N = 49) in the United States complete a Simplified Horizons Task under short, long, and ambiguous time horizons. Adaptation to time horizons increased with age: older children and adults explored more when horizons were long than when short, and while some younger children adapted to time horizons, younger children overall did not show strong evidence of adapting. Under ambiguous horizons, older children and adults preferred to exploit over explore, while younger children did not show this preference. Thus, adaptation to time horizons is evident by ages 11-12 and may begin to emerge around 5-6 years, and children decrease their tendencies to explore under short and ambiguous time horizons with development. This developmental shift may lead to less learning but more adaptive decision making. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Winnie Zhuang
- Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis
- Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Boulder
| | - Jesse Niebaum
- Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis
| | - Yuko Munakata
- Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis
- Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Boulder
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16
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Dubourg E, Thouzeau V, de Dampierre C, Mogoutov A, Baumard N. Exploratory preferences explain the human fascination for imaginary worlds in fictional stories. Sci Rep 2023; 13:8657. [PMID: 37246187 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-35151-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2022] [Accepted: 05/13/2023] [Indexed: 05/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Imaginary worlds are present and often central in many of the most culturally successful modern narrative fictions, be it in novels (e.g., Harry Potter), movies (e.g., Star Wars), video games (e.g., The Legend of Zelda), graphic novels (e.g., One Piece) and TV series (e.g., Game of Thrones). We propose that imaginary worlds are popular because they activate exploratory preferences that evolved to help us navigate the real world and find new fitness-relevant information. Therefore, we hypothesize that the attraction to imaginary worlds is intrinsically linked to the desire to explore novel environments and that both are influenced by the same underlying factors. Notably, the inter-individual and cross-cultural variability of the preference for imaginary worlds should follow the inter-individual and cross-cultural variability of exploratory preferences (with the personality trait Openness-to-experience, age, sex, and ecological conditions). We test these predictions with both experimental and computational methods. For experimental tests, we run a pre-registered online experiment about movie preferences (N = 230). For computational tests, we leverage two large cultural datasets, namely the Internet Movie Database (N = 9424 movies) and the Movie Personality Dataset (N = 3.5 million participants), and use machine-learning algorithms (i.e., random forest and topic modeling). In all, consistent with how the human preference for spatial exploration adaptively varies, we provide empirical evidence that imaginary worlds appeal more to more explorative people, people higher in Openness-to-experience, younger individuals, males, and individuals living in more affluent environments. We discuss the implications of these findings for our understanding of the cultural evolution of narrative fiction and, more broadly, the evolution of human exploratory preferences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edgar Dubourg
- Institut Jean Nicod, Département d'études cognitives, Ecole normale supérieure, Université PSL, EHESS, CNRS, Paris, France.
| | - Valentin Thouzeau
- Institut Jean Nicod, Département d'études cognitives, Ecole normale supérieure, Université PSL, EHESS, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Charles de Dampierre
- Institut Jean Nicod, Département d'études cognitives, Ecole normale supérieure, Université PSL, EHESS, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Andrei Mogoutov
- Institut Jean Nicod, Département d'études cognitives, Ecole normale supérieure, Université PSL, EHESS, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Nicolas Baumard
- Institut Jean Nicod, Département d'études cognitives, Ecole normale supérieure, Université PSL, EHESS, CNRS, Paris, France
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17
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Frankenhuis WE, Gopnik A. Early adversity and the development of explore-exploit tradeoffs. Trends Cogn Sci 2023:S1364-6613(23)00091-8. [PMID: 37142526 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2023] [Revised: 03/28/2023] [Accepted: 04/05/2023] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Childhood adversity can have wide-ranging and long-lasting effects on later life. But what are the mechanisms that are responsible for these effects? This article brings together the cognitive science literature on explore-exploit tradeoffs, the empirical literature on early adversity, and the literature in evolutionary biology on 'life history' to explain how early experience influences later life. We propose one potential mechanism: early experiences influence 'hyperparameters' that determine the balance between exploration and exploitation. Adversity might accelerate a shift from exploration to exploitation, with broad and enduring effects on the adult brain and mind. These effects may be produced by life-history adaptations that use early experience to tailor development and learning to the likely future states of an organism and its environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Willem E Frankenhuis
- Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law, Freiburg, Germany.
| | - Alison Gopnik
- Department of Psychology and Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research, University of California at Berkeley, CA, USA
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18
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Unger L, Sloutsky VM. Category learning is shaped by the multifaceted development of selective attention. J Exp Child Psychol 2023; 226:105549. [PMID: 36116317 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105549] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2022] [Revised: 08/28/2022] [Accepted: 08/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Categories are a fundamental building block of cognition that simplify the multitude of entities we encounter into equivalence classes. By simplifying this barrage of inputs, categories support reasoning about and interacting with their members. For example, despite differences in size, color, and other features, we can treat members of the category of dogs as equivalent, and thus generalize information about any given dog to other dogs. Simplifying entities into categories in adulthood is supported by selective attention, in which people focus on category-relevant attributes, while filtering out category-irrelevant attributes. However, much category learning takes place in infancy and early childhood, when selective attention undergoes substantial development. We designed two experiments to disentangle the contributions of the focusing and filtering aspects of selective attention to category learning over development. Experiment 1 provided evidence that learning simple categories was accompanied by selective attention in both 4- and 5- year-old children and adults. Experiment 2 provided evidence that only focusing contributed to selective attention in 4-year-olds, whereas both focusing and filtering contributed to selective attention in 5-year-olds and adults. Thus, category learning may recruit different aspects of selective attention across development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Layla Unger
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, United States.
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19
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Iwasaki S, Moriguchi Y, Sekiyama K. Parental responsiveness and children's trait epistemic curiosity. Front Psychol 2023; 13:1075489. [PMID: 36778159 PMCID: PMC9910790 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1075489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2022] [Accepted: 12/31/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Curiosity, the desire to learn new information, has a powerful effect on children's learning. Parental interactions facilitate curiosity-driven behaviors in young children, such as self-exploration and question-asking, at a certain time. Furthermore, parenting quality predicts better academic outcomes. However, it is still unknown whether persistent parenting quality is related to children's trait epistemic curiosity (EC). The current study examined whether parenting practices, responsiveness, and demandingness are cross-sectionally related to the trait EC of children in different age groups (preschoolers, younger and older school-aged children). We adopted a shortened Japanese version of the parenting style questionnaire and modified the trait EC questionnaire in young children. A sample of 244 caregivers (87.37% mothers) of children (ages 3-12) was recruited through educational institutions in Japan and reported on their parenting practices and trait EC. All data analyses were performed using SPSS version 26. Hierarchical regression analyses were performed to determine the explanatory variables for children's trait EC. Self-reported parental responsiveness significantly explained EC scores. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show a cross-sectional relationship between parental responsiveness and children's trait EC. Future research should clarify whether parental responsiveness in early childhood predicts children's EC later in life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shoko Iwasaki
- Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | | | - Kaoru Sekiyama
- Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
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20
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Rastelli C, Greco A, De Pisapia N, Finocchiaro C. Balancing novelty and appropriateness leads to creative associations in children. PNAS NEXUS 2022; 1:pgac273. [PMID: 36712330 PMCID: PMC9802071 DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2022] [Accepted: 12/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
Abstract
Creative problem solving is a fundamental skill of human cognition and is conceived as a search process whereby a novel and appropriate solution is generated. However, it is unclear whether children are able to balance novelty and appropriateness to generate creative solutions and what are the underlying computational mechanisms. Here, we asked children, ranging from 10 to 11 years old, to perform a word association task according to three instructions, which triggered a more appropriate (ordinary), novel (random), or balanced (creative) response. Results revealed that children exhibited greater cognitive flexibility in the creative condition compared to the control conditions, as revealed by the structure and resiliency of the semantic networks. Moreover, responses' word embeddings extracted from pretrained deep neural networks showed that semantic distance and category switching index increased in the creative condition with respect to the ordinary condition and decreased compared to the random condition. Critically, we showed how children efficiently solved the exploration/exploitation trade-off to generate creative associations by fitting a computational reinforcement learning (RL) model that simulates semantic search strategies. Our findings provide compelling evidence that children balance novelty and appropriateness to generate creative associations by optimally regulating the level of exploration in the semantic search. This corroborates previous findings on the adult population and highlights the crucial contribution of both components to the overall creative process. In conclusion, these results shed light on the connections between theoretical concepts such as bottom-up/top-down modes of thinking in creativity research and the exploration/exploitation trade-off in human RL research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clara Rastelli
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
- MEG Center, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Neural Dynamics and Magnetoencephalography, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Antonino Greco
- MEG Center, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Neural Dynamics and Magnetoencephalography, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
- Werner Reichardt Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Nicola De Pisapia
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
| | - Chiara Finocchiaro
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
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21
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Dubois M, Bowler A, Moses-Payne ME, Habicht J, Moran R, Steinbeis N, Hauser TU. Exploration heuristics decrease during youth. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2022; 22:969-983. [PMID: 35589910 PMCID: PMC9458685 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-022-01009-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/22/2022] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Deciding between exploring new avenues and exploiting known choices is central to learning, and this exploration-exploitation trade-off changes during development. Exploration is not a unitary concept, and humans deploy multiple distinct mechanisms, but little is known about their specific emergence during development. Using a previously validated task in adults, changes in exploration mechanisms were investigated between childhood (8-9 y/o, N = 26; 16 females), early (12-13 y/o, N = 38; 21 females), and late adolescence (16-17 y/o, N = 33; 19 females) in ethnically and socially diverse schools from disadvantaged areas. We find an increased usage of a computationally light exploration heuristic in younger groups, effectively accommodating their limited neurocognitive resources. Moreover, this heuristic was associated with self-reported, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms in this population-based sample. This study enriches our mechanistic understanding about how exploration strategies mature during development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Magda Dubois
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, WC1B 5EH, London, UK.
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, WC1N 3BG, London, UK.
| | - Aislinn Bowler
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, WC1B 5EH, London, UK
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, WC1N 3BG, London, UK
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, WC1E 7HX, London, UK
| | - Madeleine E Moses-Payne
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, WC1B 5EH, London, UK
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, WC1N 3BG, London, UK
- UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, WC1N 3AZ, London, UK
| | - Johanna Habicht
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, WC1B 5EH, London, UK
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, WC1N 3BG, London, UK
| | - Rani Moran
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, WC1B 5EH, London, UK
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, WC1N 3BG, London, UK
| | - Nikolaus Steinbeis
- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, WC1H 0AP, London, UK
| | - Tobias U Hauser
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, WC1B 5EH, London, UK
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, WC1N 3BG, London, UK
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22
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Garon NM, English SD. Heterogeneity of decision-making strategies for preschoolers on a variant of the IGT. APPLIED NEUROPSYCHOLOGY. CHILD 2022; 11:811-824. [PMID: 34505556 DOI: 10.1080/21622965.2021.1973470] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Adaptive decision-making strategies are critical for dealing with the complexity of the social world. The present study investigated the use of decision-making strategies in preschoolers and their association to prosocial behavior and peer problems. Eighty-six preschoolers aged 3- and 4-years completed the preschool decision-making task (PGT), a child variant of the Iowa Gambling task . Win-stay/lose-shift responses along with exploration (consecutive choices from the advantageous deck) and exploitation (shifting between options) were examined. Preschoolers showed a range of strategies, with 4-year-olds adapting their approach as the game progressed and making better use of feedback in comparison to 3-year-olds. Children who differed in terms of choices from the advantageous deck were distinguished by different combinations of exploration and exploitation. Furthermore, unique combinations of decision-making strategies also distinguished children who were rated as high versus low in prosocial behavior as well as children rated as having a high versus low level of peer problems. The findings suggest that consideration of strategies used in decision-making tasks could provide useful insight in a clinical setting, particularly for populations with social difficulties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nancy Marie Garon
- Department of Psychology, Mount Allison University, Sackville, Canada
| | - Sarah D English
- Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
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23
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Codol O, Gribble PL, Gurney KN. Differential Dopamine Receptor-Dependent Sensitivity Improves the Switch Between Hard and Soft Selection in a Model of the Basal Ganglia. Neural Comput 2022; 34:1588-1615. [PMID: 35671472 DOI: 10.1162/neco_a_01517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2021] [Accepted: 04/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
The problem of selecting one action from a set of different possible actions, simply referred to as the problem of action selection, is a ubiquitous challenge in the animal world. For vertebrates, the basal ganglia (BG) are widely thought to implement the core computation to solve this problem, as its anatomy and physiology are well suited to this end. However, the BG still display physiological features whose role in achieving efficient action selection remains unclear. In particular, it is known that the two types of dopaminergic receptors (D1 and D2) present in the BG give rise to mechanistically different responses. The overall effect will be a difference in sensitivity to dopamine, which may have ramifications for action selection. However, which receptor type leads to a stronger response is unclear due to the complexity of the intracellular mechanisms involved. In this study, we use an existing, high-level computational model of the BG, which assumes that dopamine contributes to action selection by enabling a switch between different selection regimes, to predict which of D1 or D2 has the greater sensitivity. Thus, we ask, Assuming dopamine enables a switch between action selection regimes in the BG, what functional sensitivity values would result in improved action selection computation? To do this, we quantitatively assessed the model's capacity to perform action selection as we parametrically manipulated the sensitivity weights of D1 and D2. We show that differential (rather than equal) D1 and D2 sensitivity to dopaminergic input improves the switch between selection regimes during the action selection computation in our model. Specifically, greater D2 sensitivity compared to D1 led to these improvements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olivier Codol
- Department of Psychology and Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada
| | - Paul L Gribble
- Department of Psychology and Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada.,Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT 06511, U.S.A.
| | - Kevin N Gurney
- Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, U.K.
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24
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Pruning recurrent neural networks replicates adolescent changes in working memory and reinforcement learning. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2121331119. [PMID: 35622896 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2121331119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
SignificanceAdolescence is a period during which there are important changes in behavior and the structure of the brain. In this manuscript, we use theoretical modeling to show how improvements in working memory and reinforcement learning that occur during adolescence can be explained by the reduction in synaptic connectivity in prefrontal cortex that occurs during a similar period. We train recurrent neural networks to solve working memory and reinforcement learning tasks and show that when we prune connectivity in these networks, they perform the tasks better. The improvement in task performance, however, can come at the cost of flexibility as the pruned networks are not able to learn some new tasks as well.
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25
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Novelty preferences depend on goals. Psychon Bull Rev 2022; 29:2293-2301. [PMID: 35618942 PMCID: PMC9135316 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02118-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
People are sometimes drawn to novel items, but other times prefer familiar ones. In the present research we show, though, that both children’s and adults’ preferences for novel versus familiar items depend on their goals. Across four experiments, we showed 4- to 7-year-olds (total N = 498) and adults (total N = 659) pairs of artifacts where one was familiar and the other was novel (e.g., a four-legged chair and ten-legged chair). In Experiment 1, children wanted to have familiar artifacts, but to learn about novel ones. Experiment 2 replicated this pattern using a simpler procedure, and found the same pattern in adults. In Experiment 3, 4- to 6-year-olds and adults more strongly preferred familiar items when choosing which they would rather have than when choosing which they would rather try using. Finally, Experiment 4 replicated adults’ preferences to have familiar items and learn about novel ones with an additional set of items. Together these findings show that preferences for novelty depend on people’s goals. We suggest these effects arise because children and adults are motivated both by the promise of information and the desire for safe options in high commitment decisions that entail risk.
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26
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Gualtieri S, Finn AS. The Sweet Spot: When Children’s Developing Abilities, Brains, and Knowledge Make Them Better Learners Than Adults. PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2022; 17:1322-1338. [PMID: 35404724 PMCID: PMC9442275 DOI: 10.1177/17456916211045971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Cognitive development is marked by age-related improvements across a number of domains, as young children perform worse than their older counterparts on most tasks. However, there are cases in which young children, and even infants, outperform older children and adults. So when, and why, does being young sometimes confer an advantage? This article provides a comprehensive examination of the peculiar cases in which younger children perform better. First, we outline the specific instances in which younger is better across domains, including mastering language, using probabilistic information, detecting causal relations, remembering certain information, and even solving problems. We then examine how children’s reduced cognitive abilities, ongoing brain development, more limited prior knowledge, and heightened tendency to explore benefits their learning, reasoning, perception, and memory from a mechanistic perspective. We hold that considering all of these factors together is essential for understanding the ways in which children’s learning is unique and that science has much to learn from a careful consideration of childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Amy S. Finn
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
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27
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Gendered beliefs about mathematics ability transmit across generations through children's peers. Nat Hum Behav 2022; 6:868-879. [PMID: 35393520 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-022-01331-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2020] [Accepted: 03/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
In many societies, beliefs about differential intellectual ability by gender persist across generations. These societal beliefs can contribute to individual belief formation and thus lead to persistent gender inequality across multiple dimensions. We show evidence of intergenerational transmission of gender norms through peers and how this affects gender gaps in learning. We use nationally representative data from China and the random assignment of children to middle-school classrooms to estimate the effect of being assigned a peer group with a high proportion of parents who believe that boys are innately better than girls at learning mathematics. We find this increases a child's likelihood of holding the belief, with greater effects from peers of the same gender. It also affects the child's demonstrated mathematics ability, generating gains for boys and losses for girls. Our findings highlight how the informational environment in which children grow up can shape their beliefs and academic ability.
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28
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Young children are not driven to explore imaginary worlds. Behav Brain Sci 2022; 45:e291. [DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x2100234x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
We address Dubourg and Baumard's claim that imaginary worlds are most appealing early in the lifespan when the exploratory drive is highest. Preschool-age children prefer fictions set in the real world, and fantastical information can be difficult for children to represent in real time. We speculate that a drive to explore imaginary worlds may emerge after children acquire substantial real-world skills and knowledge. An account of age effects on fictional preferences should encompass developmental change.
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29
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Blakey KH, Atkinson M, Rafetseder E, Renner E, Caldwell CA. Taking account of others' goals in social information use: Developmental changes in 3- to 7-year-old children. J Exp Child Psychol 2021; 215:105325. [PMID: 34896763 PMCID: PMC8784822 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2020] [Revised: 11/08/2021] [Accepted: 11/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Social information use improved with age but only for exploration of alternatives. Children were able to account for others’ conflicting motivations from 4 years. Alignment of the demonstrator’s and children’s goals did not influence performance. From 6 years children could infer the outcome of others’ behaviour. Rates of copying were low at all ages, even when it was the appropriate response.
The ability to take mental states such as goals into account when interpreting others’ behavior has been proposed to be what sets human use of social information apart from that of other animals. If so, children’s social information use would be expected to change as their understanding of others’ mental states develops. We explored age-related changes in 3- to 7-year-old children’s ability to strategically use social information by taking into account another’s goal when it was, or was not, aligned with their own. Children observed as a puppet demonstrator selected a capsule, peeked inside, and chose to accept or reject it, following which children made their own selection. Children were able to account for others’ conflicting motivations from around 4 years of age and reliably inferred the outcome of others’ behavior from 6 years. However, using social information based on such inferences appeared to be challenging regardless of whether the demonstrator’s goal was, or was not. aligned to that of the participant. We found that social information use improved with age; however, this improvement was restricted to cases in which the appropriate response was to avoid copying the demonstrator’s selection. In contrast to previous research, appropriate copying responses remained at chance. Possible explanations for this unexpected pattern of results are discussed. The cognitive challenge associated with the ability to account for others’ goals could offer humans a significant advantage over that of other animals in their ability to use social information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kirsten H Blakey
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK.
| | - Mark Atkinson
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK
| | - Eva Rafetseder
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK
| | - Elizabeth Renner
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK
| | - Christine A Caldwell
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK
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30
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Liquin EG, Gopnik A. Children are more exploratory and learn more than adults in an approach-avoid task. Cognition 2021; 218:104940. [PMID: 34715584 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104940] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2020] [Revised: 08/31/2021] [Accepted: 10/08/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Intuitively, children appear to be more exploratory than adults, and this exploration seems to help children learn,. However, there have been few clear tests of these ideas. We test whether exploration and learning change across development using a task that presents a "learning trap." In this task, exploitation-maximizing immediate reward and avoiding costs-may lead the learner to draw incorrect conclusions, while exploration may lead to better learning but be more costly. In Studies 1, 2, and 3 we find that preschoolers and early school-aged children explore more than adults and learn the true structure of the environment better. Study 3 demonstrates that children explore more than adults even though they, like adults, predict that exploration will be costly, and it shows that exploration and learning are correlated. Study 4 shows that children's and adults' learning depends on the evidence they generate during exploration: children exposed to adult-like evidence learn like adults, and adults exposed to child-like evidence learn like children. Together, these studies support the idea that children may be more exploratory than adults, and this increased exploration influences learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily G Liquin
- Department of Psychology, 2121 Berkeley Way, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
| | - Alison Gopnik
- Department of Psychology, 2121 Berkeley Way, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
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Bowler A, Habicht J, Moses-Payne ME, Steinbeis N, Moutoussis M, Hauser TU. Children perform extensive information gathering when it is not costly. Cognition 2021; 208:104535. [PMID: 33370652 PMCID: PMC7871012 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2020] [Revised: 11/27/2020] [Accepted: 12/03/2020] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Humans often face decisions where little is known about the choice options. Gathering information prior to making a choice is an important strategy to improve decision making under uncertainty. This is of particular importance during childhood and adolescence, when knowledge about the world is still limited. To examine how much information youths gather, we asked 107 children (8-9 years, N = 30), early (12-13 years, N = 41) and late adolescents (16-17 years, N = 36) to perform an information sampling task. We find that children gather significantly more information before making a decision compared to adolescents, but only if it does not come with explicit costs. Using computational modelling, we find that this is because children have reduced subjective costs for gathering information. Our findings thus demonstrate how children overcome their limited knowledge and neurocognitive constraints by deploying excessive information gathering, a developmental feature that could inform aberrant information gathering in psychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aislinn Bowler
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London WC1B 5EH, United Kingdom; Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom; Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom
| | - Johanna Habicht
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London WC1B 5EH, United Kingdom; Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom
| | | | - Niko Steinbeis
- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London WC1H 0AP, United Kingdom
| | - Michael Moutoussis
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London WC1B 5EH, United Kingdom; Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom
| | - Tobias U Hauser
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London WC1B 5EH, United Kingdom; Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom.
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The use of individual, social, and animated cue information by capuchin monkeys and children in a touchscreen task. Sci Rep 2021; 11:1043. [PMID: 33441782 PMCID: PMC7806602 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-80221-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2020] [Accepted: 12/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The distinctiveness of human cumulative culture raises the question of whether humans respond differently to information originating from social sources, compared with information from other sources. Further, does any such differential responding set humans apart from other species? We studied how capuchin monkeys and 2- to 5-year-old children used information originating from their own actions, those of a human demonstrator, or an animated cue. This information, presented via a touchscreen, always revealed in the first trial (T1) the reward value (rewarded or unrewarded) of one stimulus from a 2- or 3-item array, and could be used in a follow-up trial (T2) involving the same stimulus array. Two monkeys achieved a level of proficiency indicating their appreciation of the T1–T2 relationship, i.e., reliably repeating rewarded (“win”) selections and actively avoiding repetition of unrewarded (“lose”) selections well above chance levels. Neither the two task-proficient monkeys nor the children showed overall performance differences between the three source conditions. Non-task-proficient monkeys, by contrast, did show effects of source, performing best with individually-acquired information. The overall pattern of results hints at an alternative perspective on evidence typically interpreted as showing a human advantage for social information use.
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