The influence of exposure to early-life adversity on agency-modulated reinforcement learning
- 1Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
- 2The Ballmer Institute for Children's Behavioral Health, University of Oregon, Portland, Oregon 97211, USA
- 3Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
- Corresponding author: phelps{at}fas.harvard.edu
Abstract
Agency beliefs influence how humans learn from different contexts and outcomes. Research demonstrates that stressors, such as exposure to early-life adversity (ELA), are associated with both agency beliefs and learning, but how these processes interact remains unclear. The current study investigated whether exposure to ELA influences agency and interacts with reinforcement learning in adults. Replicating prior behavioral and computational work, ELA resulted in decreased learning, while increased adversity severity was associated with decreased latent agency beliefs. These findings suggest that exposure to adversity in childhood has a nuanced impact on reinforcement learning and agency beliefs in adulthood.
Footnotes
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[Supplemental material is available for this article.]
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Article is online at http://www.learnmem.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/lm.054047.124.
- Received July 14, 2024.
- Accepted December 16, 2024.
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