Adolescence is a period of heightened exploration relative to adulthood and childhood. This predisposition has been linked with negative behaviours related to risk-taking, including dangerous driving, substance misuse and risky sexual practices. However, recent models have argued that adolescents’ heightened exploration serves a functional purpose within the lifespan, allowing adolescents to develop experiential knowledge of their surroundings. Yet, there is limited evidence that heightened exploration in adolescence is associated with positive outcomes. To address this, the present pre-registered study utilised a foraging paradigm with a sample of adolescents aged 16–17 (N = 68) and of adults aged 21 and above (N = 69). Participants completed a patch foraging task, which required them to choose between exploiting a known resource which gradually yields fewer rewards, and exploring a novel, unknown resource with a fresh distribution of rewards. Findings demonstrated that adolescents explored more than adults, which – in the context of the current task—represented more optimal patch foraging behaviour. These findings indicate that adolescents’ heightened exploration can be beneficial, as they were able to effectively navigate unknown environments and accrue rewards more successfully than adults. This provides evidence that heightened exploration in adolescence, relative to adulthood, can lead to positive outcomes and contributes to our understanding of the role increased novelty-seeking plays at this point in the lifespan.

中文翻译：

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青少年在新环境中是否是更理想的决策者？检查在补丁觅食范式中加强探索的好处

相对于成年和童年，青春期是一个高度探索的时期。这种倾向与与冒险相关的负面行为有关，包括危险驾驶、药物滥用和危险的性行为。然而，最近的模型认为，青少年的高度探索在其一生中起到了功能性作用，使青少年能够发展对周围环境的体验性知识。然而，有限的证据表明，在青春期加强探索与积极的结果有关。为了解决这个问题，目前的预注册研究使用了一种觅食范式，对 16-17 岁的青少年（N  = 68）和 21 岁及以上的成年人（N = 69）。参与者完成了一个补丁觅食任务，这要求他们在利用逐渐产生较少奖励的已知资源和探索具有新奖励分配的新的未知资源之间做出选择。研究结果表明，青少年比成年人探索的更多，在当前任务的背景下，这代表了更理想的斑块觅食行为。这些发现表明，青少年的高度探索可能​​是有益的，因为他们能够有效地驾驭未知环境并比成年人更成功地获得奖励。这提供了证据表明，相对于成年期，青春期加强探索可以带来积极的结果，并有助于我们理解在生命周期的这个阶段增加新奇寻求所扮演的角色。