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Should I Stay or Should I Go? Children's Persistence in the Context of Diminishing Rewards
Seokyung Kim1, Daniel Berry1, Stephanie M Carlson1
1Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Insights
Children develop adaptive persistence by balancing exploration and exploitation. Older children and those with better executive function are more likely to balance, suggesting self-regulation is key.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Behavioral Economics
Background:
- Adaptive persistence involves balancing task perseverance with seeking alternatives.
- Understanding how children develop this skill is crucial for supporting goal achievement.
- Self-regulation, executive function, and metacognition are implicated in adaptive decision-making.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how children aged 3-7 years learn to balance exploration and exploitation in a task.
- To identify distinct patterns of persistence and decision-making in children.
- To examine the role of age, executive function, and metacognition in adaptive persistence.
Main Methods:
- Participants (N=136, ages 3-7) engaged in a simulated fishing task with decreasing catch probabilities across successive ponds.
- Latent class analysis was used to identify distinct behavioral patterns in children's choices.
- Children's age, executive function, and metacognition were assessed and controlled for.
Main Results:
- Three distinct patterns emerged: Explorers (55%), Exploiters (24%), and Balancers (21%).
- Older children were more likely to be Exploiters or Balancers than Explorers.
- Higher executive function and metacognition correlated with being a Balancer or Exploiter, rather than an Explorer.
Conclusions:
- Children's persistence strategies evolve with age and cognitive development.
- Adaptive persistence, characterized by balancing exploration and exploitation, is linked to executive function and metacognition.
- Self-regulation skills may be a target for interventions to improve children's decision-making and goal pursuit.
Abstract:
Persistence on a task is both beneficial and costly, so it is important to understand how children learn to effectively balance between perseverance and seeking alternatives to reach a goal by monitoring their performance and tracking their progress over time ("adaptive persistence"). Typically developing children (N = 136) ages 3-7 years in the Midwest United States were invited to catch pretend fish at 7 ordered ponds with increasing numbers of fish. Unbeknownst to children, however, the probability of catching fish decreased across successive ponds, making it most rational to briefly "explore" new ponds to learn the payoff structure and then to "exploit" the earlier ponds before their chances ended. A latent class analysis of children's choices suggested three distinct patterns: (a) Explorers (55%), who repeatedly explored novel ponds, despite their lower rewards, (b) Exploiters (24%), who rapidly returned to earlier, more lucrative ponds, and (c) Balancers (21%), who began by exploring novel ponds but later returned to exploit the earlier, more lucrative ponds. Older children showed a greater probability of being classified as Exploiters or Balancers over Explorers. Controlling for age, children with higher executive function and metacognition tended to be classified as Balancers or Exploiters rather than Explorers. These findings suggest that self-regulation is a potential target for interventions aiming to support children's effective and fulfilling decisions.
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