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New perspectives on adolescent motivated behavior: attention and conditioning
Monique Ernst1, Teresa Daniele, Kyle Frantz
1Emotional Development and affective Neuroscience Branch, NIMH/NIH/DHHS, United States. ernstm@mail.nih.gov
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
|October 7, 2011
Summary
Adolescent brains prioritize stimulus-driven attention and form stronger reward associations, influencing motivated behavior. This neurobiological shift may explain typical adolescent impulsivity and risk-taking tendencies.
Area of Science:
- Neurobiology
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Adolescence involves significant neurobiological changes, impacting behavior through reward, motivation, and cognitive development.
- Existing models highlight reward and motivation, but attention and conditioning are crucial for adaptive behavior.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose a neurobiological model of adolescent behavior focusing on attention and conditioning.
- To hypothesize how biases in these processes shape adolescent motivated behavior.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the dual-attention model (Corbetta & Shulman, 2002) distinguishing stimulus-driven and goal-driven networks.
- Formulated hypotheses regarding attentional biases and associative learning in adolescents versus adults.
Main Results:
- Proposed that adolescents exhibit a balance favoring stimulus-driven attention over goal-driven attention.
- Hypothesized stronger cue-appetitive stimulus associations and weaker cue-aversive stimulus associations in youth.
Conclusions:
- Biased attention and conditioning in adolescents contribute to typical patterns of motivated behavior.
- These functional biases may underlie adolescent impulsivity, novelty-seeking, and risk-taking behaviors.
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