Relationship between Puberty and Inhibitory Control: Computational Modeling of the Drift-diffusion Process.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Developmental Neuroscience
• Adolescent Psychology

Background:

• Inhibitory control research often uses simple reaction time measures.
• Understanding cognitive development during puberty is crucial.
• Drift diffusion models offer a more nuanced approach to decision-making.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the interplay between puberty, sex, and inhibitory control.
• To compare two popular drift diffusion models in adolescent cognition.
• To identify specific parameters of decision-making influenced by pubertal development and sex.

Main Methods:

• Recruited 103 adolescents (mean age 14.49 years).
• Collected self-reported pubertal development data.
• Administered a flanker task to assess inhibitory control.
• Employed Bayesian regressions to analyze drift diffusion model parameters.

Main Results:

• The interaction between pubertal development and sex significantly predicted the A/B parameter.
• The A/B parameter reflects the amount of information used in decision-making.
• This suggests distinct developmental trajectories in decision-making based on puberty and sex.

Conclusions:

• Puberty and sex are significant factors in adolescent inhibitory control.
• Decision-making processes, specifically information accumulation, differ between sexes during puberty.
• Future research should utilize advanced models like drift diffusion to understand cognitive changes in adolescence.