Open AccessIndividuals with adverse childhood experiences explore less and underweight reward feedback
Author(s) -
Alex Lloyd,
Ryan McKay,
Nicholas Furl
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2109373119
Subject(s) - adverse childhood experiences , cognition , psychopathology , stressor , psychology , early childhood , adverse effect , developmental psychology , mechanism (biology) , foraging , clinical psychology , medicine , psychiatry , mental health , biology , ecology , philosophy , epistemology
Significance Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are extreme stressors that have a profound impact on cognitive development. Using an explore/exploit foraging paradigm, we demonstrate that ACEs are associated with reduced exploration, leading these individuals to accumulate fewer rewards from their environment. Using computational modeling, we identify that reduced exploration is associated with ACE-exposed individuals underweighting reward feedback, which highlights a cognitive mechanism that may link childhood trauma to the onset and maintenance of psychopathology.