Developmental changes in decision making under risk: The role of executive functions and reasoning abilities in 8- to 19-year-old decision makers

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that children and adolescents often tend toward risky decisions despite explicit knowledge about the potential negative consequences. This phenomenon has been suggested to be associated with the immaturity of brain areas involved in cognitive control functions. Particularly, "frontal lobe functions," such as executive functions and reasoning, mature until young adulthood and are thought to be involved in age-related changes in decision making under explicit risk conditions. We investigated 112 participants, aged 8-19 years, with a frequently used task assessing decisions under risk, the Game of Dice Task (GDT). Additionally, we administered the Modified Card Sorting Test assessing executive functioning (categorization, cognitive flexibility, and strategy maintenance) as well as the Ravens Progressive Matrices assessing reasoning. The results showed that risk taking in the GDT decreased with increasing age and this effect was not moderated by reasoning but by executive functions: Particularly, young persons with weak executive functioning showed very risky decision making. Thus, the individual maturation of executive functions, associated with areas in the prefrontal cortex, seems to be an important factor in young peoples' behavior in risky decision-making situations.

Association Between Executive Function and Problematic Adolescent Driving

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Searching for predictors of the risk decision-making process in social situations in the adolescence

“…Results in the SCDT showed that percentage of risk elections remained stable around 35%, with decision times diminishing with age probably due to improvements in executive functioning that facilitated the decision-making process (Schiebener et al, 2014). There was also evidence that women are more risk-averse than men since they spent more decision time for the risky option, though they engage in risk behaviors at levels similar to men (Bohlin & Erlandsson, 2007;Van Leijenhorst et al, 2008).…”

Improving shared health decision making for children and adolescents with chronic illness: A narrative literature review

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