Does cognitive control mediate the relationship between peer presence and adolescent risk-taking? An ERP study

Peer presence influences risk-taking behavior, particularly in adolescence. Based on the dual system model, this event-related potential study examined whether and how the presence of a peer displayed a preference for risky behavior would increase adolescents' risk-taking by disrupting their cognitive control processes in either emotional or non-emotional contexts. A sample of 106 adolescents (17-19 years of age) completed two Stoop tasks and a Balloon Analog Risk Task under three peer presence conditions. Results revealed that compared to other conditions, the presence of a risk-averse peer caused adolescents to make safer decisions through improving their conflict monitoring (more negative N200-diff), whereas a risk-preference peer's presence led adolescents to more risky decisions through disrupting their conflict resolution (more positive N450-diff) but they were only observed on the Emotional Stroop task. These findings suggest that different peer presence contexts could increase or decrease adolescents' risk-taking behaviors by influencing their cognitive control under an emotional context rather than in a non-emotional context.