Stop Saying That It Is Wrong! Psychophysiological, Cognitive, and Metacognitive Markers of Children's Sensitivity to Punishment

Neurodevelopmental evidence suggests that children's main decision-making strategy is to avoid options likely to induce punishment. However, the cognitive and affective factors contributing to children's avoidance to high punishment frequency remain unknown. The present study explored psyc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2015-07, Vol.10 (7), p.e0133683-e0133683
Main Authors: Gonzalez-Gadea, Maria Luz, Scheres, Anouk, Tobon, Carlos Andres, Damm, Juliane, Baez, Sandra, Huepe, David, Marino, Julian, Marder, Sandra, Manes, Facundo, Abrevaya, Sofia, Ibanez, Agustin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Avoidance
Brain research
Child
Child development
Children
Children & youth
Cognition
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive ability
Conductance
Councils
Decision making
Developmental psychology
Executive Function
Galvanic Skin Response
Gambling
Gambling - psychology
Humans
Individuality
Intelligence
Metacognition
Neurology
Neuropsychological Tests
Neurosciences
Psychophysiology - methods
Punishment
Punishment - psychology
Resistance
Reward
Sensitivity
Sensitivity analysis
Skin
Studies
Task complexity
Teenagers
Trends
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Summary:Neurodevelopmental evidence suggests that children's main decision-making strategy is to avoid options likely to induce punishment. However, the cognitive and affective factors contributing to children's avoidance to high punishment frequency remain unknown. The present study explored psychophysiological, cognitive, and metacognitive processes associated with sensitivity to punishment frequency. We evaluated 54 participants (between 8 and 15 years old) with a modified Iowa Gambling Task for children (IGT-C) which included options with varying long-term profit and punishment frequencies. Skin conductance responses (SCRs) were recorded during this task. Additionally, we assessed IGT-C metacognitive knowledge, fluid intelligence, and executive functions. Participants exhibited behavioral avoidance and high anticipatory SCRs to options with high frequency of punishment. Moreover, age, IGT-C metacognitive knowledge, and inhibitory control were associated with individual differences in sensitivity to punishment frequency. Our results suggest that children's preference for infrequently punished decisions is partially explained by psychophysiological signals as well as task complexity and development of cognitive control.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0133683