Program

This symposium brings together four contributions exploring the development of behavioral adaptation under uncertainty from childhood to adulthood, utilizing fMRI, computational modeling, and ecological momentary assessment.

Maria Waltmann presents findings from an fMRI study on probabilistic reversal learning in adolescents with and without childhood maltreatment. Maltreated adolescents exhibit quicker adaptation in win-seeking contexts, with enhanced perception of environmental volatility and significant involvement of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, suggesting neurocognitive adaptations to unpredictable environments.

Johannes Falck discusses the impact of individual (e.g., body-mass-index BMI) and environmental (familial psychopathology, socio-economic status SES) risk factors on reinforcement learning in a developmental study. Higher BMI and lower SES predict parameter differences, while familial psychopathology and low SES moderate symptom-parameter relationships, influencing learning outcomes and decision-making.

Gabriele Chierchia examines the development of strategic social decision-making in adolescents through a tacit coordination task. Adolescents increasingly adapt decisions to cooperative and competitive incentives, with significant developmental changes in decision variability and response times, highlighting adolescence as a critical period for developing strategic social abilities.

Klara Gregorova explores the influence of social feedback on self-esteem across age groups and clinical populations. Using an experimental paradigm and ecological momentary assessment, the study shows self-esteem reactivity to social feedback increases during adolescence and decreases in adulthood. Participants with Borderline Personality Disorder exhibit negatively biased expectations of being liked, despite receiving positive feedback.

Together, these contributions provide a comprehensive understanding of behavioral adaptation in children and adolescents, emphasizing their relevance for understanding mental health risk factors during development.