Changing contributions of emotion and reward information to learning through adolescence

From childhood to adulthood, individuals' learning and decision-making may be differentially impacted by two salient value signals for adolescents: emotions and rewards. This study superimposed these information sources to assess their independent and joint influences on learning and choice processes. Participants ages 8 to 22 y completed a reinforcement learning task, in which monetary rewards conveyed information integral to making reward-maximizing choices, while emotional expressions conveyed information incidental to this goal. In some conditions, emotion and reward invoked congruent approach-avoid tendencies; following either information source promoted making reward-maximizing ("correct") choices. In other conditions, emotion and reward invoked incongruent approach-avoid tendencies; following the emotion cue impeded reward capture. Participants completed several measures indexing the persistence of emotion and reward information on choice and evaluations of these signals. Statistical and computational models revealed that emotion-reward incongruence hampered early learning through an incidental emotion bias on value estimates. The emotion bias decayed as reward learning progressed in adolescents and adults but endured in children. Moreover, reward-based choice increased with age across the additional measures. Although participants of all ages were initially hindered by incidental emotion cues, adults' shift toward prioritizing integral reward outcomes indicates that goal-relevant information comes to dominate choice with age.