About this session

Friday, 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

Computational Models for Advancing Developmental Science: Insights into Adversity and Risk Behavior

Developmental research routinely uses raw performance metrics (e.g., response times, error rates) to measure cognitive abilities. However, this confounds more intricate processes underlying behavioral performance (e.g., learning rate), making it difficult to grasp how contextual factors shape cognition and the implications for developmental outcomes. Computational models of cognition, commonly used in adult research, offer more nuanced insights into mechanistic cognitive processes that drive performance across diverse tasks, but have been underused in developmental studies. This symposium aims to demonstrate how computational models offer insights into development, focusing on how early adversity impacts cognitive processes and downstream behavioral outcomes.
Using drift-diffusion modeling (DDM), the first paper finds that exposure to childhood threat and material deprivation is associated with lower processing speed, but not lower executive functioning in adults. Similarly, the second paper uses DDM to show that early deprivation is associated with less effective processing of information and also evaluates links with greater attentional problems in adolescents. The third paper extends DDM with reinforcement learning to examine decision-making processes underlying risk behaviors in adolescents. These findings come from diverse, longitudinal samples: a Dutch-adult panel study, a cohort of marginalized U.S. adolescents, and a community-based study of U.S. adolescents.
The talks will highlight the theoretical and methodological benefits of applying computational models in developmental science. Along with a leading expert in the topic, we will discuss the advantages and challenges of these methods, emphasizing their potential to provide more precise and interpretable measures of cognition and their role in development.

Paper #1
Title	Adversity exposure and executive functioning: Decomposing the cognitive processes underlying performance differences
Presenting author	Mr. Stefan Vermeent, Utrecht University, Netherlands

Paper #2
Title	Childhood Material Hardship and Attentional Problems in Adolescents: Application of Drift-Diffusion Modeling
Presenting author	Yue Zhang, University of Michigan, United States

Paper #3
Title	Decoding Adolescent Risk Behaviors: Insights from Combining RL and EAMs
Presenting author	Felix Pichardo, University of Minnesota, United States

View all paper details

Session chair
Yue Zhang, University of Michigan, United States

Discussant
Alexander Weigard, University of Michigan, Department of Psychiatry, United States

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