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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2020.05.19.105114

The Cognitive Mechanisms That Drive Social Belief Updates During Adolescence

Ma, I.·Westhoff, B.·van Duijvenvoorde, A. C. K.
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Abstract

Adolescence is a key life phase for developing well-adjusted social behaviour. Belief updates about the trustworthiness of peers are essential during adolescence as social reorientation emerges and peer relationships intensify. This study maps the age-related changes of those belief updates during adolescence (n = 157, 10-24 years). We used computational modelling and an information sampling paradigm to reveal that three cognitive mechanisms contribute to age-related changes in those belief updates: prior beliefs, prior uncertainty, and uncertainty tolerance. The age-related changes in these three cognitive mechanisms result in increasingly adaptive belief updates from early to mid-adolescence when it comes to beliefs about trustworthiness. Our findings shed light on age-related changes in adaptive learning about others during adolescence.

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Ma, I., Westhoff, B., van Duijvenvoorde, A. C. K.. 2020-05-22. The Cognitive Mechanisms That Drive Social Belief Updates During Adolescence. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.19.105114

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