scholarly journals Do adolescents take more risks? Not when facing a novel uncertain situation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Éltető Noémi ◽  
Janacsek Karolina ◽  
Kóbor Andrea ◽  
Takács Ádám ◽  
Tóth-Fáber Eszter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Road Traffic ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Risky Choice ◽  
Conclusive Evidence ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
Age Related

AbstractIn real-life decision-making, sub-optimal risk-taking seems characteristic of adolescents. Such behavior increases the chance of serious negative, and at times, irreversible outcomes for this population (e.g., road traffic accidents, addictions). We are still lacking conclusive evidence, however, for an inverted U-shaped developmental trajectory for risk-taking. This raises the question whether adolescents are really more risk-prone or when facing a novel risky situation, they behave just as children and adults do. To answer this question, we used the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) to assess the risky decision making of 188 individuals ranging in age from 7 to 30. The BART provided useful data for characterizing multiple aspects of risk-taking. Surprisingly, we found that adolescents were not more inclined to take risks than children or young adults. Participants in all age groups were able to adapt their learning processes to the probabilistic environment and improve their performance during the sequential risky choice. There were no age-related differences in risk-taking at any stage of the task. Likewise, neither negative feedback reactivity nor overall task performance distinguished adolescents from the younger and older age groups. Our findings prompt 1) methodological considerations about the validity of the BART and 2) theoretical debate whether the amount of experience on its own may account for age-related changes in real-life risk-taking, since risk-taking in a novel and uncertain situation was invariant across developmental stages.

Assessing a Perceptual Model of Risky Real-Time Decision Making

1996 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 223-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua B. Hurwitz
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Decision Making Under Risk ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
Automobile Accidents ◽  
Perceptual Model ◽  
Objective Risk ◽  
Risk Acceptance

A new model of real-time risky decision making is introduced that predicts tradeoffs between processing and risk taking during driving. This model, called Decision-Making under Risk in a Vehicle, or DRIVE, was fitted to data from a task in which subjects decided when to cross an intersection as a car approached from the cross street. Results showed that subjects attempted to cross less often before the oncoming car when it started closer to the intersection, even though objective risk was the same regardless of starting distance. Also, when the car started closer, subjects who reported having more real-life automobile accidents were less likely to take advantage of a longer opportunity to cross first. These results, along with results from fitting DRIVE to the data, suggest that risk-taking effects can be accounted for by a model of risk perception, and not by a model of risk acceptance.

scholarly journals Selective outcome reinstatement during evaluation drives heuristics in risky choice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Russek ◽  
Rani Moran ◽  
Yunzhe Liu ◽  
Raymond J Dolan ◽  
Quentin JM Huys
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Risky Choice ◽  
Behavioral Models ◽  
Behavioral Differences ◽  
Actual Choice ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
Probability Information ◽  
Reward Information

A ubiquitous feature of human decision making under risk is that individuals differ from each other, as well as from normativity, in how they incorporate reward and probability information. One possible explanation for these deviations is a desire to reduce the number of potential outcomes considered during choice evaluation. Although multiple behavioral models can be invoked involving selective consideration of choice outcomes, whether differences in these tendencies underlie behavioral differences in sensitivity to reward and probability information is unknown. Here we consider neural evidence where we exploit magnetoencephalography (MEG) to decode the actual choice outcomes participants consider when they decide between a gamble and a safe outcome. We show that variability in tendencies of individual participants to reinstate neural outcome representations, based on either their probability or reward, explains variability in the extent to which their choices reflect consideration of probability and reward information. In keeping with this we also show that participants who are higher in behavioral impulsivity fail to preferentially reinstate outcomes with higher probability. Our results suggest that neural differences in the degree to which outcomes are considered shape risk taking strategy, both in decision making tasks, as well as in real life.

scholarly journals The relationship between physiological arousal and multiple levels of temporal context in risky choice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hayley R. Brooks ◽  
Peter Sokol-Hessner
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Context Effects ◽  
Temporal Structure ◽  
Physiological Arousal ◽  
Risky Choice ◽  
Context Dependency ◽  
Temporal Context ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
Task Level

Context-dependence is fundamental to risky monetary decision-making. A growing body of evidence suggests that temporal context, or recent events, alters risk-taking at a minimum of three timescales: immediate (e.g. trial-by-trial), neighborhood (e.g. a group of consecutive trials), and global (e.g. task-level). To examine context effects, we created a novel monetary choice set with intentional temporal structure in which option values shifted between multiple levels of value magnitude (“contexts”) several times over the course of the task. This structure allowed us to examine whether effects of each timescale were simultaneously present in risky choice behavior and the potential mechanistic role of arousal, an established correlate of risk-taking, in context-dependency. We found that risk-taking was sensitive to immediate, neighborhood, and global timescales, increasing following small (vs. large) outcome amounts, large positive (but not negative) shifts in context, and when cumulative earnings exceeded expectations. We quantified arousal with skin conductance responses, which were specifically related to the global timescale, increasing with cumulative earnings, suggesting that physiological arousal captures a task-level assessment of performance. We complimented this correlational analysis with a secondary reanalysis of risky monetary choices following the double-blind administration of propranolol and a placebo during a temporally unstructured choice task. We replicated our behavioral finding that risk-taking is context-sensitive at three timescales but found no change in temporal context-effects following propranolol administration. Our results demonstrate that risky decision-making is consistently dynamic at multiple timescales and that arousal is likely the consequence, rather than the cause, of temporal context in risky monetary decision-making.

scholarly journals Risk-based Decision Making in Rats: Modulation by Sex and Amphetamine

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dannia Islas-Preciado ◽  
Steven R. Wainwright ◽  
Julia Sniegocki ◽  
Stephane E. Lieblich ◽  
Shunya Yagi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Gonadal Hormones ◽  
Risky Choice ◽  
Female Rats ◽  
Male Rats ◽  
Risky Decision Making ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
17Β Estradiol ◽  
Males And Females

AbstractDecision-making is a complex process essential to daily adaptation in many species. Risk is an inherent aspect of decision-making and it is influenced by gonadal hormones. Testosterone and 17β-estradiol may modulate decision making and impact the mesocorticolimbic dopamine pathway. Here, we explored sex differences, the effect of gonadal hormones and the dopamine agonist amphetamine on risk-based decision making. Intact or gonadectomised (GDX) male and female rats underwent to a probabilistic discounting task. High and low doses of testosterone propionate (1.0 or 0.2 mg) and 17β-estradiol benzoate (0.3 μg) were administered to assess acute effects on risk-based decision making. After 3-days of washout period, intact and GDX rats received high or low (0.5 or 0.125 mg/kg) doses of amphetamine and re-tested in the probabilistic discounting task. Under baseline conditions, males made more risky choices during probability discounting compared to female rats, particularly in the lower probability blocks, but GDX did not influence risky choice. The high, but not the low dose, of testosterone modestly reduced risky decision making in GDX male rats. Conversely, 17β-estradiol had no significant effect on risky choice regardless of GDX status in either sex. Lastly, a higher dose of amphetamine increased risky decision making in both intact males and females, but had no effect in GDX rats. These findings demonstrated sex differences in risk-based decision making, with males showing a stronger bias towards larger, uncertain rewards. GDX status influenced the effects of amphetamine, suggesting different dopaminergic regulation in risk-based choices among males and females.

Modeling the Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Real-Time Risky Decision-Making

1998 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 330-334
Author(s):  
Joshua B. Hurwitz
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Risk Perception ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Risky Decision Making ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
Distance Information ◽  
Driving Task ◽  
Response Choices

Increased real-time risk-taking under sleep loss could be marked by changes in risk perception or acceptance. Risk-perception processes are those involved in estimating real-time parameters such as the speeds and distances of hazardous objects. Risk-acceptance processes relate to response choices given risk estimates. Risk-taking under fatigue was studied using a simulated intersection-crossing driving task in which subjects decided when it was safe to cross an intersection as an oncoming car approached from the cross street. The subjects performed this task at 3-hour intervals over a 36-hour period without sleep. Results were modeled using a model of real-time risky decision making that has perceptual components that process speed, time and distance information, and a decisional component for accepting risk. Results showed that varying a parameter for the decisional component across sessions best accounted for variations in performance relating to time of day.

scholarly journals Modernizing Conceptions of Valuation and Cognitive-Control Deployment in Adolescent Risk Taking

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathy T. Do ◽  
Paul B. Sharp ◽  
Eva H. Telzer
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Control System ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Computational Model ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Expected Value ◽  
Risky Decision Making ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
Adolescent Risk ◽  
Risk Taking Behavior

Heightened risk taking in adolescence has long been attributed to valuation systems overwhelming the deployment of cognitive control. However, this explanation of why adolescents engage in risk taking is insufficient given increasing evidence that risk-taking behavior can be strategic and involve elevated cognitive control. We argue that applying the expected-value-of-control computational model to adolescent risk taking can clarify under what conditions control is elevated or diminished during risky decision-making. Through this lens, we review research examining when adolescent risk taking might be due to—rather than a failure of—effective cognitive control and suggest compelling ways to test such hypotheses. This effort can resolve when risk taking arises from an immaturity of the control system itself, as opposed to arising from differences in what adolescents value relative to adults. It can also identify promising avenues for channeling cognitive control toward adaptive outcomes in adolescence.

scholarly journals Heightened Adolescent Risk-Taking? Insights From Lab Studies on Age Differences in Decision-Making

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivy N. Defoe ◽  
Judith Semon Dubas ◽  
Daniel Romer
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Real World ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Risky Decision Making ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
Neuropsychological Development ◽  
Integrative Framework ◽  
Adolescent Risk

Surveys concur that adolescents disproportionately engage in many real-world risk behaviors, compared with children and adults. Recently researchers have employed laboratory risky decision-making tasks to replicate this apparent heightened adolescent risk-taking. This review builds on the main findings of the first meta-analysis of such age differences in risky decision-making in the laboratory. Overall, although adolescents engage in more risky decision-making than adults, adolescents engage in risky decision-making equal to children. However, adolescents take fewer risks than children on tasks that allow the option of opting out of taking a risk. To reconcile findings on age differences in risk-taking in the real-world versus the laboratory, an integrative framework merges theories on neuropsychological development with ecological models that emphasize the importance of risk exposure in explaining age differences in risk-taking. Policy insights and recent developments are discussed.

scholarly journals Imagery Ability and Imagery Perspective Preference: A Study of Their Relationship and Age- and Gender-Related Changes

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Karen P. Y. Liu ◽  
Monica Lai ◽  
Shirley S. M. Fong ◽  
Michelle Bissett
Keyword(s):  
Age Groups ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Clinical Intervention ◽  
Preference Test ◽  
Knee Extension ◽  
Imagery Ability ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Temporal Congruence ◽  
Imagery Perspective ◽  
And Gender

This study examined if imagery ability (i.e., vividness and temporal congruence between imagined and executed knee extensions) and imagery perspective preference were affected by ageing and gender. Ninety-four participants, 31 young, 43 intermediate, and 20 older adults completed the Vividness of Movement Imagery Questionnaire-2 and a knee extension temporal congruence test to reflect on their imagery ability and an imagery perspective preference test. Male participants had a better imagery ability than the female participants (F 4,85=2.84, p=.029, η2=.118). However, significant age-related changes in imagery ability were not found in the three age groups. Change in imagery perspective preference with a trend towards an external imagery perspective was observed with ageing (F 3,89=3.16, p=.028, η2=.096) but not between male and female. The results suggest that imagery ability may be preserved with ageing. As individuals age, their preference for using an imagery perspective shifts from a more internal to a more external perspective. This understanding is important when designing future imagery research and real-life application or clinical intervention.

scholarly journals Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Are More Averse to Social Than Nonsocial Risk

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Calcutt ◽  
Darby Proctor ◽  
Sarah M. Berman ◽  
Frans B. M. de Waal
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Trust Game ◽  
Risk Attitudes ◽  
Social Risk ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
Emotional Factors ◽  
Economic Decision Making ◽  
Tit For Tat

Social risk is a domain of risk in which the costs, benefits, and uncertainty of an action depend on the behavior of another individual. Humans overvalue the costs of a socially risky decision when compared with that of purely economic risk. Here, we played a trust game with 8 female captive chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes) to determine whether this bias exists in one of our closest living relatives. A correlation between an individual’s social- and nonsocial-risk attitudes indicated stable individual variation, yet the chimpanzees were more averse to social than nonsocial risk. This indicates differences between social and economic decision making and emotional factors in social risk taking. In another experiment using the same paradigm, subjects played with several partners with whom they had varying relationships. Preexisting relationships did not impact the subjects’ choices. Instead, the apes used a tit-for-tat strategy and were influenced by the outcome of early interactions with a partner.

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