Cognitive control deployment is flexibly modulated by social value in early adolescence

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Cognitive control models balance effort cost against attainable reward.
• Adolescents may not adaptively integrate value into cognitive control deployment.
• Social valuation processes are often seen as competing with adolescent cognitive control.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if social incentives can adaptively increase cognitive control in adolescents.
• To determine if peer status influences the deployment of cognitive control.
• To examine the modulation of cognitive control by social value in early adolescence.

Main Methods:

• Adolescents (N=87, M_age=14.64, 44% male) completed an incentivized cognitive control task.
• Participants exerted cognitive control for rewards on behalf of high- or low-status peers.
• Bayesian modeling was used to analyze cognitive control performance and incentive effects.

Main Results:

• Adolescents exerted significantly more cognitive control for high-status peers compared to low-status peers.
• Social incentives, irrespective of peer status, boosted cognitive control levels above baseline.
• Evidence supports the adaptive modulation of cognitive control by social incentives.

Conclusions:

• The adolescent cognitive control system is flexibly modulated by social value.
• Social incentives, particularly those linked to high-status peers, enhance cognitive control.
• Findings challenge the notion that social valuation solely competes with cognitive control in adolescence.