Logo image
Value-driven attentional capture in adolescence
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Value-driven attentional capture in adolescence

Zachary J J Roper, Shaun P Vecera and Jatin G Vaidya
Psychological science, Vol.25(11), pp.1987-1993
11/2014
DOI: 10.1177/0956797614545654
PMID: 25210012

View Online

Abstract

Adolescence has been characterized as a period of both opportunity and vulnerability. Numerous clinical conditions, including substance-use disorders, often emerge during adolescence. These maladaptive behaviors have been linked to problems with cognitive control, yet few studies have investigated how rewards differentially modulate attentional processes in adolescents versus adults. Here, we trained adults and adolescents on a visual task to establish stimulus-reward associations. Later, we assessed learning in an extinction task in which previously rewarded stimuli periodically appeared as distractors. Both age groups initially demonstrated value-driven attentional capture; however, the effect persisted longer in adolescents than in adults. The results could not be explained by developmental differences in visual working memory. Given the importance of attentional control to daily behaviors and clinical conditions such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, these results reveal that cognitive control failures in adolescence may be linked to a value-based attentional-capture effect.
Cues Decision Making Age Factors Humans Attention Male Learning Young Adult Iowa Adolescent Behavior - psychology Adolescent Adult Female Reward Memory, Short-Term Task Performance and Analysis

Details

Logo image