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Goal-directed learning in adolescence: neurocognitive development and contextual influences

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 25, pages 176–194 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Adolescence is a time during which we transition to independence, explore new activities and begin pursuit of major life goals. Goal-directed learning, in which we learn to perform actions that enable us to obtain desired outcomes, is central to many of these processes. Currently, our understanding of goal-directed learning in adolescence is itself in a state of transition, with the scientific community grappling with inconsistent results. When we examine metrics of goal-directed learning through the second decade of life, we find that many studies agree there are steady gains in performance in the teenage years, but others report that adolescent goal-directed learning is already adult-like, and some find adolescents can outperform adults. To explain the current variability in results, sophisticated experimental designs are being applied to test learning in different contexts. There is also increasing recognition that individuals of different ages and in different states will draw on different neurocognitive systems to support goal-directed learning. Through adoption of more nuanced approaches, we can be better prepared to recognize and harness adolescent strengths and to decipher the purpose (or goals) of adolescence itself.

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Fig. 1: Goal-directed learning and its roles during adolescence.
Fig. 2: Reinforcement learning.
Fig. 3: Inconsistencies in goal-directed learning performance over adolescence.
Fig. 4: Adolescent prowess in goal-directed learning tasks featuring uncertainty and volatility.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank A.G.E. Collins, R. Dahl, M. Eckstein, A. Galván, D. Shohamy, W. van den Bos, K. Delevich, A. J. Qü, W.-C. Lin and the members of our laboratories for discussion and feedback. This work was supported in part by NSF 1640885 SL-CN: Science of Learning in Adolescence: Integrating Developmental Studies in Animals and Humans (to L.W.) and NIH R01MH134514 (to L.W.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Linda Wilbrecht

  2. Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Linda Wilbrecht

  3. Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA

    Juliet Y. Davidow

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Glossary

Contingencies

The relationship among stimuli, actions and rewards. When there is a probabilistic schedule of reinforcement, rewards are given only for a fraction of correct actions (80% is a common fraction used); whereas in a deterministic contingency, this relationship is 100%. Contingency can also refer to the relationship between and stimulus and the correct action or outcome (see ‘reversal learning’ subsequently).

Exploration

In the context of reinforcement learning, the selection of an option that is not the highest value option (in the estimation of the learner). The use of an exploratory strategy may enable a learner to identify changes in the environment or to discover new, potentially higher value options.

Learning rate

A parameter that scales the amount of prediction error that is used to update the value of an option on any given trial. In effect, this describes how sensitive a learner is to feedback and over how many trials feedback information is integrated.

Model-based learning

A form of learning in which the learner formulates and uses a representation of the structure of the environment. This enables the learner to take into account latent information beyond that recently and directly experienced and can enable integration of multiple sources or stages of feedback.

Model-free learning

A form of learning in which the learner is dependent on information experienced through direct feedback. According to most definitions, this form of learning lacks higher level structure or abstraction.

Reinforcement learning

A form of learning in which an association of an action with a cue is learned to obtain an outcome. Favourable action associations are strengthened by positive outcomes. Negative outcomes reduce the tendency to repeat an action.

Reversal learning

A test of flexibility in learning that typically involves a change in task contingency so that a previously rewarded action is no longer rewarded and a previously non-rewarded action is now rewarded.

Salience

The capacity of a stimulus or reward to stand out relative to background or owing to its importance or novelty to the perceiver or learner. If a stimulus or reward has low salience, it may not be noticed, or may be noticed but not desired.

Sensory noise

Brain activity that is not driven by external stimuli and that may be extraneous. A high level of noise generated by random activity of neurons may obscure incoming information but may also serve to generate stochasticity that could have adaptive value.

Set shifting

A test of flexibility in learning that typically involves a shift in attention from one set of stimuli to another.

Uncertainty

Ambiguity caused by lack of information, conflicting information or changing circumstances. Uncertainty may be further subdivided into reducible and irreducible uncertainty. Uncertainty is commonly incorporated into a goal-directed task by changing the probability of reward or adding variability to the time of delivery of reward.

Volatility

A change in the environment that leads to change in the relationships among stimuli, actions and outcomes. Reversal learning and set shifting are two ways in which response to volatility can be studied in a laboratory task.

Working memory

A form of memory in which a small amount of information is retained over a short time interval to inform an ongoing process such as a choice or action selection. Memory held in this short-term store is quicky forgotten once its utility has been realized.

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Wilbrecht, L., Davidow, J.Y. Goal-directed learning in adolescence: neurocognitive development and contextual influences. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 25, 176–194 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-023-00783-w

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