Developmental Changes in Adaptive Behavior during Adolescence: The Interplay between Motivational and Cognitive Control Functioning

最近关于认知发展的神经科学模型假设大脑结构的不同成熟，一方面与动机/情绪过程(皮质下结构)有关，另一方面与认知控制过程(皮质结构)有关。皮质下结构被认为比皮质结构成熟得更早，导致在青春期对积极的提示和反馈(激励)更敏感，这反过来可能导致更危险的行为决定。计划中的研究方案的目的是检查动机/情绪过程和认知控制过程之间相互作用的发展变化，以适应行为的调节。我们打算通过横断面和纵向相结合的研究设计来研究发育变化，在两个相隔约两年的测量时间对四个年龄组(10-11岁；12-13岁，14-15岁和16-17岁)进行评估。适应性行为调整将通过在任务集指令之间灵活切换的能力(任务切换)和根据反馈重新学习规则的能力(基于反馈的逆转学习)来衡量。动机过程的影响将通过在任务转换过程中指示收益和损失的积极和消极线索的变化，以及在学习任务中正确和错误回答后的收益和损失来检验。除了行为测量，我们还将使用事件相关电位(ERPs)来研究任务相关加工在动作的不同阶段(在线索、刺激或反馈的加工过程中)的发展变化。我们的主要研究目标是确定与儿童和年轻人相比，青少年是否确实更倾向于处理积极的线索和反馈信息，以及适应行为的发展是如何受到动机因素的调节的。此外，我们计划包括一些标准化的心理测量和认知任务，以检查认知和动机控制方面的个体差异对解释液态智力的个体差异及其变化的相对贡献。

Recent neuroscientific models on cognitive development postulate a differential maturation of brain structures that have been associated with motivational/emotional processes (subcortical structures), on the one hand, and cognitive control processes (cortical structures), on the other hand. Subcortical structures are assumed to mature earlier than cortical structures, resulting in a higher sensitivity towards positive cues and feedback (incentives) during adolescence, which can in turn result in more risky behavioral decisions. The aim of the planned research proposal is to examine developmental changes in the interplay between motivational/emotional processes and cognitive control processes for the adaptive regulation of behavior. We intend to investigate developmental changes by means of a combined cross-sectional and longitudinal research design, in which four age groups (10-11 years; 12-13 years, 14-15 years und 16-17 years) will be assessed at two measurement times separated by about two years. Adaptive behavioral adjustment will be measured by the ability to flexibly switch between task-set instructions (task switching) and by the ability to relearn rules on the basis of feedback (feedback-based reversal learning). The influence of motivational processes will be examined by variations of positive and negative cues indicating gains and losses during task switching and by gains and losses following correct and incorrect responses during the learning task. Aside from behavioral measures, we will use event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate developmental changes in task-relevant processing during different phases of an action (during processing of the cue, stimulus or feedback). Our main research goals are to determine whether adolescents indeed have a greater bias towards processing positive cues and feedback information in comparison to children and young adults and how the development of adaptive behavior is modulated by motivational factors. In addition, we plan to include a number of standardized psychometric and cognitive tasks to examine the relative contribution of individual differences in cognitive and motivational control for explaining individual differences in fluid intelligence as well as their changes.