Loss Frequency and Awareness Predict Performance on a Preschool Variant of the Iowa Gambling Task

The current study investigated the effect of frequency of loss and awareness on the ability to make advantageous decisions in preschoolers using a child variant of the Iowa Gambling Task (Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994 Bechara, A., Damasio, A., Damasio, H., & Anderson, S. (1994). Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition, 50, 7–15. doi:10.1016/0010-0277(94)90018-3[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Preschoolers (N = 50) were randomly assigned to either a low loss frequency (0.1) or a high loss frequency (0.5) condition. The results suggested that increase in frequency of loss and higher awareness improved performance in the 4-year-olds. Finally, further analysis indicated that the effect of increased frequency on decision making was partially mediated by increased awareness of the game. The findings have implications for the integration of explicit and implicit processes in making adaptive choices.