Studies of reward effects on behavior in adolescence typically rely on performance metrics that confound myriad cognitive and non-cognitive processes, making it challenging to determine which process is impacted by reward. The present longitudinal study applied the diffusion decision model to a reward task to isolate the influence of reward on response caution from influences of processing and motor speed. Participants completed three annual assessments from early to middle adolescence (N = 387, 55% female, M_age = 12.1 at Wave 1; M_age = 13.1 at Wave 2, M_age = 14.1 at Wave 3) and three annual assessments in late adolescence (M_ages = 17.8, 18.9, 19.9). At each assessment, participants completed a two-choice reaction time task under conditions of no-reward and a block in which points were awarded for speeded accuracy. Reward reduced response caution at all waves, as expected, but had a greater impact as teens moved from early to middle adolescence. Simulations to identify optimal response caution showed that teens were overly cautious in early adolescence but became too focused on speed over accuracy by middle adolescence. By late adolescence, participants adopted response styles that maximized reward. Further, response style was associated with both internalizing and externalizing symptoms in early-to-middle adolescence, providing evidence for the construct validity of a diffusion model approach in this developmental period.

中文翻译：

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计算模型揭示了奖励对整个青春期行为影响的战略和发展差异

奖励对青春期行为影响的研究通常依赖于混淆无数认知和非认知过程的绩效指标，这使得确定奖励影响哪个过程具有挑战性。本纵向研究将扩散决策模型应用于奖励任务，以将奖励对反应谨慎的影响与处理和运动速度的影响隔离开来。参与者完成了青春期早期到中期的三项年度评估（N  = 387，55% 为女性，第一波M_年龄 = 12.1；第二波M_年龄 = 13.1，第三波M_年龄 = 14.1）和青春期后期的三项年度评估(年龄_{_} = 17.8、18.9、19.9）。在每次评估中，参与者在无奖励条件下完成一项双选反应时间任务，并在其中为加速准确度奖励分数。正如预期的那样，奖励减少了所有波浪中的反应谨慎，但随着青少年从青春期早期进入青春期中期，奖励产生了更大的影响。确定最佳反应谨慎的模拟表明，青少年在青春期早期过于谨慎，但在青春期中期变得过于关注速度而不是准确性。到青春期后期，参与者采用了最大化奖励的反应方式。此外，反应风格与青春期早期到中期的内化和外化症状相关，为扩散模型方法在这一发育时期的结构有效性提供了证据。