About this session

Friday, 1:20 PM - 2:50 PM

From Stress to Strategy: How Childhood Adversity Shape Learning and Exploration

Exposure to childhood adversity is linked to various forms of psychopathology. Prior research suggests learning mechanisms may account for children’s vulnerability to adversity and, as result, be a potential target for intervention (e.g., Frankenhuis & Gopnik, 2023; McLaughlin, DeCross et al., 2019; Xu et al., 2023). This symposium featured studies using multi-method (behavioral experiment, longitudinal studies) and computational modeling to examine relations among children’s exposure to adversity, their learning and exploration, and their behavioral adjustment. Study 1 assessed the link between adolescents' lifetime stress exposure and performance in a reward learning task with stable vs. volatile reward probabilities. Adolescents with higher stress exposure collected fewer rewards, likely due to expecting higher volatility of the environment. Study 2 used a Go-NoGo task to explore how childhood unpredictability relates to reduced directed exploration. Findings showed that children with higher response accuracy (i.e., more adept at adjusting to feedback) were at greater risk for reduced exploration when exposed to unpredictability. Study 3 applied reinforcement learning models to examine how environmental richness, predictability, and controllability influenced learning. Adolescents in low-control environments demonstrated greater learning to negative feedback and greater use of a reactive response strategy. Study 4 investigated how young children’s balancing of exploration and exploitation in a reward-probability task is related to their family contexts and behavioral adjustment. Person-centered approach identified three patterns that were linked to family socioeconomic risks and child behavioral adjustment. Together, these studies offer key insights into how adversity shape child development and could potentially inform intervention programs.

Paper #1
Title	Stress increases children’s expectations of volatility when learning
Presenting author	Dr. Karen E. Smith, Ph.D., Rutgers University - Newark, United States

Paper #2
Title	Mechanisms Linking Childhood Unpredictability to Reduced Exploration: Insights from Action Learning Across Motivational Contexts
Presenting author	Yuyan(Lillian) Xu, University of Wisconsin–Madison, United States

Paper #3
Title	Early life environments shape reinforcement learning strategies across development
Presenting author	Nora C. Harhen, New York University, United States

Paper #4
Title	Family Context, Directed and Random Exploration Profiles, and Child Socioemotional Functioning
Presenting author	Dr. Zhi Li, Ph.D., University of Rochester, United States

View all paper details

Session chair
Dr. Zhi Li, Ph.D., University of Rochester, United States

⇦ Back to schedule