Adolescents exhibit reduced Pavlovian biases on instrumental learning.

ABSTRACT: Multiple learning systems allow individuals to flexibly respond to opportunities and challenges present in the environment. An evolutionarily conserved "Pavlovian" learning mechanism couples valence and action, promoting a tendency to approach cues associated with reward and to inhibit action in the face of anticipated punishment. Although this default response system may be adaptive, these hard-wired reactions can hinder the ability to learn flexible "instrumental" actions in pursuit of a goal. Such constraints on behavioral flexibility have been studied extensively in adults. However, the extent to which these valence-specific response tendencies bias instrumental learning across development remains poorly characterized. Here, we show that while Pavlovian response biases constrain flexib

SUBMITTER: Raab HA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7519144 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature