Reward versus punishment: Reinforcement sensitivity theory,young novice drivers’ perceived risk,and risky driving

One reason that young novice drivers remain statistically over-represented in road deaths is their rate of engagement in risky driving. Prominent contributing factors include driver’s age, sex, personality, risk perception, and their driving experience. This study applied reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST, specifically reward sensitivity and punishment sensitivity) to predict young novice drivers’ perceived risk and self-reported risky driving engagement, while accounting for potential influences of age, sex, and driving experience. Drivers (N = 643, 490 females, 17–25 years, M = 20.02, SD = 2.32) who held an Australian driver’s license (P1, P2, or Open) anonymously completed an online survey containing the Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale, the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire, and a measure of perceived risk of driving-related behaviours. A path analytic model derived from RST showed that perceived risk had the strongest negative association with reported risky driving engagement, followed by reward sensitivity (positive association). Respondent’s age and reward sensitivity were associated with perceived risk. Age, reward sensitivity, and perceived risk were associated with reported engagement in risky driving behaviours. Driver sex only had direct paths with RST variables, and through reward sensitivity, indirect paths to perceived risk, and reported risky driving. Neither punishment sensitivity nor driving experience contributed significantly to the model. Implications and applications of the model, and the unique set of variables examined, are discussed in relation to road safety interventions and driver training.     

A cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of reward-related brain activation: Effects of age,pubertal stage,and reward sensitivity

Neurobiological models suggest that adolescents are driven by an overactive ventral striatum (VS) response to rewards that may lead to an adolescent increase in risk-taking behavior. However, empirical studies showed mixed findings of adolescents’ brain response to rewards. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the relationship between reward-related brain activation and risky decision-making. In addition, we examined effects of age, puberty, and individuals’ reward sensitivity. We collected two datasets: Experiment 1 reports cross-sectional brain data from 75 participants (ages 10–25) who played a risky decision task. Experiment 2 presents a longitudinal extension in which a subset of these adolescents (n = 33) was measured again 2 years later. Results showed that (1) a reward-related network including VS and medial PFC was consistently activated over time, (2) the propensity to choose the risky option was related to increased reward-related activation in VS and medial PFC, and (3) longitudinal comparisons indicated that self-reported reward sensitivity was specifically related to VS activation over time. Together, these results advance our insights in the brain circuitry underlying reward processing across adolescence.     

Longitudinal study of striatal activation to reward and loss anticipation from mid-adolescence into late adolescence/early adulthood

Adolescent risk-taking behavior has been associated with age-related changes in striatal activation to incentives. Previous cross-sectional studies have shown both increased and decreased striatal activation to incentives for adolescents compared to adults. The monetary incentive delay (MID) task, designed to assess functional brain activation in anticipation of reward, has been used extensively to examine striatal activation in both adult and adolescent populations. The current study used this task with a longitudinal approach across mid-adolescence and late adolescence/early adulthood. Twenty-two participants (13 male) were studied using the MID task at two time-points, once in mid-adolescence (mean age = 16.11; SD = 1.44) and a second time in late adolescence/early adulthood (mean age = 20.14; SD = .67). Results revealed greater striatal activation with increased age in high- compared to low-incentive contexts (incentive magnitude), for gain as well as for loss trials (incentive valence). Results extend cross-sectional findings and show reduced striatal engagement in adolescence compared to adulthood during preparation for action in an incentive context.     

Association between serotonin Cumulative Genetic Score and the Behavioral Approach System (BAS): Moderation by early life environment

The present study investigates if genetic variation in the serotonergic system interacts with early adversity to predict changes in the Behavioral Approach System (BAS), a system that taps into reward processing. In a sample of community adults (N = 236) the influence of single serotonergic candidate polymorphisms on BAS was analyzed, we also examined the aggregate contribution of these genetic variants by creating a Cumulative Genetic Score (CGS). A CGS quantifies an individual’s cumulative risk by aggregating the number of risk alleles across the candidate polymorphisms. After individual gene analysis, three candidate genes rs7305115 (TPH2), rs6311 (HTR2A), and rs6295 (HTR1A) were combined into the CGS. There were no significant interactions between individual candidate polymorphisms and childhood adversity, but the CGS interacted with childhood adversity to explain a significant amount of variance (11.6%) in the BAS. Findings suggest that genetic variations in the serotonergic system in combination with childhood adversity contribute to individual differences in reward sensitivity.     

Effects of preterm birth and gender on temperament and behavior in children

The aim of the present study was to assess the direct and interactive effects of premature birth and gender on temperament and behavioral problems in 80 children aged 18–36 months. The sample was composed of children born preterm (PT; n = 44) and children born full-term (FT; n = 36). The children's mothers completed temperament (ECBQ) and behavioral problem (CBCL 1.5–5) assessments. Analyses of variance (ANOVA 2 × 2) were performed. With regard to temperament, PT children exhibited significantly higher scores on high-intensity pleasure and perceptual sensitivity and lower scores on discomfort, cuddliness, and Attentional Focusing compared with FT children. Girls scored higher on fear and discomfort compared with boys. With concern to behavioral problems, PT children scored higher on attention problems compared with FT children. No interactive effect of premature birth and gender on temperament or behavioral problems was found.     

Negative affectivity and EEG asymmetry interact to predict emotional interference on attention in early school-aged children

Negative affectivity (NA) is a broad construct that has been associated with the development of psychopathologies, such as anxiety, and with exaggerated attention to threatening stimuli. EEG asymmetry reflects biological individual differences in emotional reactivity that may underlie the association between NA and attention to threat. The present study included a sample of 31 five-seven year olds (M age in months = 74.39, SD = 6.57) to test the hypothesis that greater NA, combined with greater right anterior and posterior asymmetries, predicts increased attention interference following threat stimuli. Children completed an executive attention task which presented task-irrelevant threat (angry) and non-threat (neutral) faces prior to each trial. EEG asymmetry was measured at baseline for anterior, anterior-temporal and posterior scalp regions and child NA was measured via maternal report. As predicted, children showing greater NA and greater right anterior-temporal asymmetry showed more attention interference following angry faces. Additionally, two trend-level effects emerged: children showing greater NA and greater left anterior-temporal asymmetry showed less attention interference following angry faces, and children showing greater NA and greater left posterior asymmetry showed less attention interference, but only following neutral faces. Discussion focuses on the utility of using EEG asymmetry in the study of temperament, attentional biases, and the biological processes by which temperament confers risk for psychopathology.     

Embodied image: Gender differences in functional and aesthetic body image among Australian adolescents

Perceptions of the body are not restricted to the way the body “looks”; they may also extend to the way the body “functions”. This research explores body image among male and female adolescents using the Embodied Image Scale (EIS), which incorporates body function into body image. Adolescents (N = 1526, male = 673, female = 853) aged 12–17 (M = 13.83, SD = 1.02), from 26 Western Australian high schools were surveyed. Information was gathered on pubertal timing, body mass index (BMI) and body image. Participants reported significantly higher value of, behavioral-investment in, and satisfaction with the functional dimension of the body compared to the aesthetic dimension. After controlling for age, pubertal timing, and BMI, females reported significantly higher aesthetic values and aesthetic behavioral-investment, and lower aesthetic satisfaction, functional values, functional behavioral-investment and functional satisfaction than male participants. Grade, pubertal timing and BMI category differences were also explored.     

Motor imagery ability and internal representation of movement in children with probable developmental coordination disorder

It has been hypothesised that deficits in the functioning of the mirror neuron system (MNS) and internal modelling may contribute to the motor impairments associated with DCD. These processes can be explored behaviourally through motor imagery paradigms. Motor imagery proficiency of children with and without probable DCD (pDCD) was examined using a complex hand rotation task to explore whether motor imagery strategies could be used during more complex tasks. Forty-four boys aged 7–13 years participated, 22 with pDCD (mean = 9.90 years ± 1.57) and 22 controls (mean = 9.68 years ± 1.53). Participants completed the task twice: with and without motor imagery instructions. Stimuli were presented in two rotational axes – palm/back, and eight 45° rotational steps. Both groups showed evidence of following the biomechanical and postural constraints of actual movements. Responses of children with pDCD were slower and less accurate than controls, with group differences increasing alongside task complexity. A greater impact of biomechanical constraints for accuracy was observed in the DCD group. The response characteristics of children with pDCD likely reflects a reduced capacity to mentally manipulate a body schema and reduced visuo-motor processing capabilities. Behaviourally, these processes are linked to MNS and internal modelling function, suggesting deficits in these systems may contribute to the movement difficulties characteristic of DCD.     

Pathology,pseudopathology, and the Dark Triad of personality

The Dark Triad traits (i.e., psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism) have traditionally been viewed as undesirable and pathological. In contrast, an evolutionary perspective suggests that traits like these might be pseudopathologies; traits that society actively dislikes in that they pose a threat to the collective good. We examined (N = 290) how the Dark Triad traits related to intrapersonal (i.e., behavioral dysfunction), quasibehavioral (i.e., reactive and proactive aggression), and interpersonal (i.e., communal and exchange orientation) factors. Psychopathy predicted high rates of behavioral dysregulation and both forms of aggression. Psychopathy and Machiavellianism showed an aversion towards communalism but an exchange orientation to social relationships. Lastly, individual differences in the Dark Triad traits accounted for part (5–22%) of the sex differences in social strategies and aggression. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed in, and in support of, an evolutionary paradigm.     

Longitudinal changes in behavioral approach system sensitivity and brain structures involved in reward processing during adolescence

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 48(5) of Developmental Psychology (see record 2012-09244-001). Figure 2 was distorted in production. The correct version is presented in the erratum.] Adolescence is a period of radical normative changes and increased risk for substance use, mood disorders, and physical injury. Researchers have proposed that increases in reward sensitivity (i.e., sensitivity of the behavioral approach system [BAS]) and/or increases in reactivity to all emotional stimuli (i.e., reward and threat sensitivities) lead to these phenomena. The present study is the first longitudinal investigation of changes in reward (i.e., BAS) sensitivity in 9- to 23-year-olds across a 2-year follow-up. Support was found for increased reward sensitivity from early to late adolescence, and evidence was found for decline in the early 20s. This decline is combined with a decrease in left nucleus accumbens (Nacc) volume, a key structure for reward processing, from the late teens into the early 20s. Furthermore, we found longitudinal increases in sensitivity to reward to be predicted by individual differences in the Nacc and medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) volumes at baseline in this developmental sample. Similarly, increases in sensitivity to threat (i.e., behavioral inhibition system sensitivity) were qualified by sex, with only females participants experiencing this increase, and predicted by individual differences in lateral OFC volumes at baseline. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Intelligence and emotional disorders: Is the worrying and ruminating mind a more intelligent mind?

Previous research has shown that anxiety and depression symptoms are negatively associated with measures of intelligence. However, this research has often not taken state distress and test anxiety into account, and recent findings indicate possible positive relationships between generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), worry, and intelligence. The present study examined the relationships between GAD, depression, and social anxiety symptoms, as well as their underlying cognitive processes of worry, rumination, and post-event processing, with verbal and non-verbal intelligence in an undergraduate sample (N = 126). While the results indicate that verbal intelligence has positive relationships with GAD and depression symptoms when test anxiety and state negative affect were taken into account, these relationships became non-significant when overlapping variance was controlled for. However, verbal intelligence was a unique positive predictor of worry and rumination severity. Non-verbal intelligence was a unique negative predictor of post-event processing. The possible connections between intelligence and the cognitive processes that underlie emotional disorders are discussed.     

Impaired appetitively as well as aversively motivated behaviors and learning in PDE10A-deficient mice suggest a role for striatal signaling in evaluative salience attribution

Phosphodiesterase 10A (PDE10A) hydrolyzes both cAMP and cGMP, and is a key element in the regulation of medium spiny neuron (MSN) activity in the striatum. In the present report, we investigated the effects of targeted disruption of PDE10A on spatial learning and memory as well as aversive and appetitive conditioning in C57BL/6 J mice. Because of its putative role in motivational processes and reward learning, we also determined the expression of the immediate early gene zif268 in striatum and anterior cingulate cortex. Animals showed decreased response rates in scheduled appetitive operant conditioning, as well as impaired aversive conditioning in a passive avoidance task. Morris water maze performance revealed not-motor related spatial learning and memory deficits. Anxiety and social explorative behavior was not affected in PDE10A-deficient mice. Expression of zif268 was increased in striatum and anterior cingulate cortex, which suggests alterations in the neural connections between striatum and anterior cingulate cortex in PDE10A-deficient mice. The changes in behavior and plasticity in these PDE10A-deficient mice were in accordance with the proposed role of striatal MSNs and corticostriatal connections in evaluative salience attribution.     

The role of goal pursuit in the interaction between psychosocial work environment and occupational well-being

The relation of the core components of the Effort–Reward Imbalance model (ERI; Siegrist, 1996) to goal pursuit was investigated. Goal pursuit was studied through categories of goal contents – competency, progression, well-being, job change, job security, organization, finance, or no work goal – based on the personal work goals of managers (Hyvönen, Feldt, Salmela-Aro, Kinnunen, & Mäkikangas, 2009). The study focused on the contribution of the ERI components (effort, reward, effort–reward imbalance, OVC) to goal contents, as well as on the mediating and moderating effects of goal contents between the ERI components and occupational well-being (burnout, work engagement) among young Finnish managers (N = 747, age range 23–35 years). First, multinomial regressions showed that effort, reward, and effort–reward imbalance contributed to the membership of the goal categories. Secondly, hierarchical GLM (General Linear Model) indicated that the goal categories mediated the relationship between the ERI components and occupational well-being. Effort, reward, and effort–reward imbalance had an indirect effect through goal categories on burnout and work engagement, but overcommitment only on burnout. In addition, the goal categories moderated the relationship between reward and work engagement. Taken together, psychosocial work environment contributes to the contents of personal work goals, which also function as mediators, particularly between the work environment and occupational well-being.     

Reward feedback processing in children and adolescents: Medial frontal theta oscillations

We examined event-related electroencephalography (EEG) oscillations, including event-related spectral perturbations (ERSP) and intertrial coherence (ITC), to compare feedback processing during a chance-based reward vs. non-reward task in groups of 10–12-year-old (n = 42), 13–14-year-old (n = 34) and 15–17-year-olds (n = 32). Because few, if any studies have applied these analytic methods to examine feedback processing in children or adolescents, we used a fine-grained approach that explored one half hertz by 16 ms increments during feedback (no win vs. win events) in the theta (4–8 Hz) frequency band. Complex wavelet frequency decomposition revealed that no win feedback was associated with enhanced theta power and phase coherence. We observed condition and age-based differences for both ERSP and ITC, with stronger effects for ITC. The transition from childhood to early adolescence (13–14 yrs.) was a point of increased differentiation of ITC favoring no win vs. wins feedback and also compared to children or older adolescents, a point of heightened ITC for no win feedback (quadratic effect).     

The role of intergroup disgust in predicting negative outgroup evaluations

We introduce intergroup disgust as an individual difference and contextual manipulation. As an individual difference, intergroup disgust sensitivity (ITG-DS) represents affect-laden revulsion toward social outgroups, incorporating beliefs in stigma transfer and social superiority. Study 1 (5 samples, N = 708) validates the ITG-DS scale. Higher ITG-DS scorers demonstrated greater general disgust sensitivity, disease concerns, authoritarian/conservative ideologies, and negative affect. Greater ITG-DS correlated with stronger outgroup threat perceptions and discrimination, and uniquely predicted negative outgroup attitudes beyond well-established prejudice-predictors. Intergroup disgust was experimentally manipulated in Study 2, exposing participants (n = 164) to a travel blog concerning contact with a disgust-evoking (vs. neutral) outgroup. Manipulated disgust generated negative outgroup evaluations through greater threat and anxiety. This mediation effect was moderated: Those higher (vs. lower) in ITG-DS did not experience stronger disgust, threat, or anxiety reactions, but demonstrated stronger translation of aversive reactions (especially outgroup threat) into negative attitudes. Theory development and treatment implications are considered.     

Two- vs. three-dimensional presentation of mental rotation tasks: Sex differences and effects of training on performance and brain activation

The well-documented sex difference in mental rotation favoring males has been shown to emerge only for 2-dimensional presentations of 3-dimensional objects, but not with actual 3-dimensional objects or with virtual reality presentations of 3-dimensional objects. Training studies using computer games with mental rotation-related content have demonstrated training effects on mental rotation performance. Here, we studied the combined effect of a two-week mental rotation (MR) training on 2-dimensional vs. 3-dimensional presentations of a classic Shepard–Metzler task (presented in a pretest–training–posttest design) and their accompanying cortical activation patterns assessed via EEG in a sample of 38 male and 39 female adolescents of about 15 years of age. Analysis of one performance parameter (reaction times) displayed only main effects of dimensionality (with shorter RTs on the 3D vs. 2D version of the MR task) and of training (significant shortening of RTs), but no significant sex difference. Analysis of the other performance parameter (scores) in the MR task revealed a sex difference favoring males that first, appeared only in the 2D version, but not in the 3D version of the MR task and, secondly, diminished after training. Neurophysiologically we observed a complex sex × dimensionality × training × hemisphere interaction showing that the hypothesized decrease of brain activation (increase in neural efficiency) with training emerged for males in both 2D and 3D conditions, whereas for females this decrease was found only in the 3D but not with the 2D version of the MR task.     

Younger apes and human children plan their moves in a maze task

Planning defined as the predetermination of a sequence of actions towards some goal is crucial for complex problem solving. To shed light on the evolution of executive functions, we investigated the ontogenetic and phylogenetic origins of planning. Therefore, we presented all four great apes species (N = 12) as well as 4- and 5-year-old human preschoolers (N = 24) with a vertical maze task. To gain a reward placed on the uppermost level of the maze, subjects had to move the reward to the bottom through open gaps situated at each level of the maze. In total, there were ten gaps located over three of the maze’s levels, and free passage through these gaps could be flexibly blocked using multiple traps. Due to the decision tree design of the maze, the subjects had to plan their actions depending on the trap configuration up to two steps ahead to successfully retrieve the reward. We found that (1) our measure of planning was negatively correlated with age in nonhuman apes, (2) younger apes as well as 5-year-old children planned their moves up to two steps ahead whereas 4-year-olds were limited to plan one step ahead, and (3) similar performance but different underlying limitations between apes and children. Namely, while all species of nonhuman apes were limited by a lack of motor control, human children exhibited a shortage in shifting their attention across a sequence of subgoals.     

Correction to urošević et Al. (2012)

Reports an error in "Longitudinal Changes in Behavioral Approach System Sensitivity and Brain Structures Involved in Reward Processing During Adolescence" by Sne?ana Uro?evi?, Paul Collins, Ryan Muetzel, Kelvin Lim and Monica Luciana (Developmental Psychology, Advanced Online Publication, Mar 5, 2012, np). Figure 2 was distorted in production. The correct version is presented in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2012-05404-001.) Adolescence is a period of radical normative changes and increased risk for substance use, mood disorders, and physical injury. Researchers have proposed that increases in reward sensitivity (i.e., sensitivity of the behavioral approach system [BAS]) and/or increases in reactivity to all emotional stimuli (i.e., reward and threat sensitivities) lead to these phenomena. The present study is the first longitudinal investigation of changes in reward (i.e., BAS) sensitivity in 9- to 23-year-olds across a 2-year follow-up. Support was found for increased reward sensitivity from early to late adolescence, and evidence was found for decline in the early 20s. This decline is combined with a decrease in left nucleus accumbens (Nacc) volume, a key structure for reward processing, from the late teens into the early 20s. Furthermore, we found longitudinal increases in sensitivity to reward to be predicted by individual differences in the Nacc and medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) volumes at baseline in this developmental sample. Similarly, increases in sensitivity to threat (i.e., behavioral inhibition system sensitivity) were qualified by sex, with only females participants experiencing this increase, and predicted by individual differences in lateral OFC volumes at baseline. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Do sex differences in a faceted model of fluid and crystallized intelligence depend on the method applied?

Recently, different methodological approaches have been discussed as an explanation for inconsistencies in studies investigating sex differences in different intelligences. The present study investigates sex differences in manifest sum scores, factor score estimates, and latent verbal, numerical, figural intelligence, as well as fluid and crystallized intelligence as measured by the German Intelligence-Structure-Test 2000-R (IST 2000-R; Liepmann, Beauducel, Brocke, & Amthauer, 2007). The not population-representative sample consisted of 977 German 11th and 12th graders enrolled in a “Gymnasium” (551 female; mean age: M = 16.70; SD = 0.65) who completed the IST 2000-R. Sex differences in fluid and crystallized intelligence were not influenced by the method applied with men performing better than women. However, extent and direction of sex differences in verbal, numerical, and figural intelligence differed by the method applied. Whereas there was a male advantage in all three factors measured as manifest sum scores, women performed better in verbal intelligence as measured by factor scores or as latent variables. Effect sizes of sex differences in numerical and figural intelligence were also greatly reduced when applying the latter two methods. Results are discussed with regard to their theoretical and practical implications.     

Auditory processing and sensory behaviours in children with autism spectrum disorders as revealed by mismatch negativity

Sensory dysfunctions may underlie key characteristics in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The current study aimed to investigate auditory change detection in children with ASD in order to determine event-related potentials to meaningless and meaningful speech stimuli. 11 high functioning boys with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders (mean age = 13.0; SD = 1.08) and 11 typically developing boys (mean age = 13.7; SD = 1.5) participated in a mismatch negativity (MMN) paradigm. Results revealed that compared to TD controls, the children with ASD showed significantly reduced MMN responses to both words and pseudowords in the frontal regions of the brain and also a significant reduction in their activation for words in the Central Parietal regions. In order to test the relationship between sensory processing and auditory processing, children completed the Adult and Adolescent Sensory Profile. As predicted, the children with ASD showed more extreme sensory behaviours and were significantly higher than their typically developing controls across three of the sensory quadrants (sensory sensitivity, low registration and sensory avoidance). Importantly, only auditory sensory sensitivity was able to account for the differences displayed for words in the frontal and central parietal regions when controlling for the effect of group, revealing an inverse relationship of the higher sensory sensitivity scores the less activation in response for words. We discuss how the expression of sensory behaviours in ASD may result in deficient neurophysiological mechanisms underlying automatic language processing.