Dr. Wouter van den Bos, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, will be visiting us this week and giving a talk in the Social, Economic, and Decision Psychology Colloquium (Thursday 21 April, 13:00-14:00; title and abstract follow).

Impulsive decision-making in adolescence: A neuro-cognitive account

Adolescence is a developmental period associated with an increase in impulsive behavior. Although this is crucial for the acquisition of skills needed for adult life, it also leads to maladaptive outcomes. Despite the clear importance of understanding impulsive behavior, the underlying psychological and neural mechanisms remain poorly understood. In this talk I will present the results of a series of studies that focus on computational and neural correlates of inter-temporal decisions. More specifically, we zoom in on the role of the cortico-striatal loops and pubertal hormones. Finally, I will discuss some more preliminary work on the role affect and time perception. Taken together, the results suggest that developmental changes in decision-making are the results of several interacting cognitive and affective processes, each with its unique developmental trajectory.