title: Adolescent risk-taking is predicted by individual differences in cognitive control over emotional, but not non-emotional, response conflict.
abstract: While much research on adolescent risk behaviour has focused on the development of prefrontal self-regulatory mechanisms, prior studies have elicited mixed evidence of a relationship between individual differences in the capacity for self-regulation and individual differences in risk taking. To explain these inconsistent findings, it has been suggested that the capacity for self-regulation may be, for most adolescents, adequately mature to produce adaptive behaviour in non-affective, "cold" circumstances, but that adolescents have a more difficult time exerting control in affective, "hot" contexts. To further explore this claim, the present study examined individual differences in self-control in the face of affective and non-affective response conflict, and examined whether differences in the functioning of cognitive control processes under these different conditions was related to risk taking. Participants completed a cognitive Stroop task, an emotional Stroop task, and a risky driving task known as the Stoplight game. Regression analyses showed that performance on the emotional Stroop task predicted laboratory risk-taking in the driving task, whereas performance on the cognitive Stroop task did not exhibit the same trend. This pattern of results is consistent with theories of adolescent risk-taking that emphasise the impacts of affective contextual influences on the ability to enact effective cognitive control.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Temple University , Philadelphia , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Morgan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Botdorf
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Temple University , Philadelphia , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Gail M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Rosenbaum
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Temple University , Philadelphia , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Jamie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Patrianakos
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Temple University , Philadelphia , PA , USA.|b King Abdulaziz University , Jeddah , Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Steinberg
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Temple University , Philadelphia , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Jason M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Chein
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012309:Risk-Taking; D000068356:Self-Control / Q000523:psychology*; D057190:Stroop Test
keywords: Cognitive control; adolescence; affect; executive function; risk taking