Development of "hot" executive function: the children's gambling task.
Development of affective decision-making was studied in 48 children at two ages (3 and 4 years) using a simplified version of the Iowa Gambling Task (). On each of 50 trials, children chose from 1 of 2 decks of cards that, when turned, displayed happy and sad faces, corresponding to rewards (candies) won and lost, respectively. Cards in 1 deck offered more rewards per trial, but were disadvantageous across trials due to occasional large losses; cards in the other deck offered fewer rewards per trial, but were advantageous overall. On later trials, 4-year-olds made more advantageous choices than 3-year-olds, and 4-year-olds made more advantageous choices than would be expected by chance, whereas 3-year-olds made more disadvantageous choices than would be expected by chance. These findings, which were especially pronounced for girls, indicate that affective decision-making develops rapidly during the preschool period, possibly reflecting the growth of neural systems involving orbitofrontal cortex.
Kerr
Aurora
A
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., Canada M5S 3G3.
Zelazo
Philip David
PD
D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D000367:Age Factors; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D005715:Gambling; D005717:Games, Experimental; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values