1-105 - Formal models of the development of learning and decision-making

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Across the life-span we are constantly learning new things and our knowledge about the world keeps expanding. Yet, from the very first moment, we have to make decisions, we have to act. Studying learning and decision-making across development posses a unique set of challenges. For instance, with age our beliefs about the world may change, and our beliefs interact with how and what we learn, but also what we decide. These (implicit) beliefs also interact with other latent processes involved in learning and decision-making (e.g. working memory). As a result it can be very difficult to identify the processes that underlie age related changes in learning and decision-making.
The talks in this symposium highlight how formal or computational models of cognitive development can provide crucial insights. The first talk addressed the question how pre-school children decided to stick with what they know or explore the unknown. The second talk focuses on how the reliance on different learning systems changes across development. In the next talk a Bayesian framework is applied to show how uncertainty that is associated with learned information is influencing subsequent actions. Finally, the last talk will focus on how formal modelling can be used to disentangle the decision strategies that are used by different age groups. In the discussion we will focus on the promises and pitfalls of formal models and highlight that if applied correctly they enable us to better understand age related changes in behavior.

Sub Unit

• Attention, Learning, Memory

Chairs

• Wouter van den Bos, Max Planck Institute for Human Development

• hilde huizenga, UvA

Individual Presentations

• Ambiguity, expectation, and information gain influence preschooler's choices in explore-exploit tasks - Elizabeth Bonawitz, Rutgers University; Presenting Author: Elizabeth Lapidow, Rutgers University

• The cognitive development of reinforcement learning - Presenting Author: Catherine Hartley, New York University

• Navigating Uncertainty: Neural Correlates of Decisions form Experience in Adolescence - Presenting Author: Wouter van den Bos, Max Planck Institute for Human Development; Corinna Laube, Max Planck Institute for Human Development; Robert Lorenz, Max Planck Institute for Human Development; Tim Pleskac, Max Planck Institute for Human Development

• Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling of Developmental and Individual Differences in Decision Making - Presenting Author: hilde huizenga, UvA; Laura M.S. Dekkers, Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Amsterdam; Joost Agelink, Unversity of Amsterdam; Riete Olthof, Unversity of Amsterdam; Bernd Figner, Behavioural Science Institute; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, The Netherlands; Anna van Duijvenvoorde, Leiden University; Brenda R.J. Jansen, Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Amsterdam