In the context of risk, decision-making is a complicated and dynamic process that evolves over time. The effects of learning and sensitivity to negative feedback (i.e., loss) at age-related changes in risky decision-making, both of which might have distinct developmental paths.
Making decisions is a difficult task.
Effective risk decision-making, perhaps predictably, takes a long time to mature and follows a non-linear route through growth until achieving maturity in adulthood.
Multiple psychological processes have a role in risk decision-making, including learning from experience (i.e., associative learning), which improves with age, and sensitivity to negative feedback (i.e., loss), which diminishes with age.
Characterizing these two processes could provide insight into decision-making tendencies as they emerge (e.g., nonlinear paths towards mature performance).
Although even adults do not participate in entirely rational decision-making in the setting of risk, the importance of negatively valenced input (e.g., loss, punishment) varies across development.
Behaviour-driven by sensitivity to negative feedback is anticipated to lead to more cautious decision-making, and this effect should diminish with age.
Adults not only made better decisions or choices at the start of a decision-making assignment than adolescents, but they also learnt more through the activity.
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