Teens have an edge when learning from rewards
Popular Science - 10/05/2016
In a recent experiment, teens did better than adults on a computer game that allowed them to learn from correct guesses. Two brain areas seem to work together to help teens succeed at this kind of learning and perhaps prepare for adulthood, Shohamy and her colleagues reported today in the journalNeuron.
“If a developing brain opens up a vulnerability to one thing, we have to think about the flip side and see well…is it adaptive another way?” says Heather Brenhouse, a developmental neuroscientist and professor of psychology at Northeastern University in Boston, who was not involved in the research. “And this is great evidence for that.”
In a recent experiment, teens did better than adults on a computer game that allowed them to learn from correct guesses. Two brain areas seem to work together to help teens succeed at this kind of learning and perhaps prepare for adulthood, Shohamy and her colleagues reported today in the journalNeuron.
“If a developing brain opens up a vulnerability to one thing, we have to think about the flip side and see well…is it adaptive another way?” says Heather Brenhouse, a developmental neuroscientist and professor of psychology at Northeastern University in Boston, who was not involved in the research. “And this is great evidence for that.”
