Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA.
Dev Psychobiol. 2010 Apr;52(3):216-24. doi: 10.1002/dev.20445.
It has been hypothesized that reward-seeking and impulsivity develop along different timetables and have different neural underpinnings, and that the difference in their timetables helps account for heightened risk-taking during adolescence. In order to test these propositions, age differences in reward-seeking and impulsivity were examined in a socioeconomically and ethnically diverse sample of 935 individuals between the ages of 10 and 30, using self-report and behavioral measures of each construct. Consistent with predictions, age differences in reward-seeking follow a curvilinear pattern, increasing between preadolescence and mid-adolescence, and declining thereafter. In contrast, age differences in impulsivity follow a linear pattern, with impulsivity declining steadily from age 10 on. Heightened vulnerability to risk-taking in middle adolescence may be due to the combination of relatively higher inclinations to seek rewards and still maturing capacities for self-control.
有人假设，追求奖励和冲动的发展遵循不同的时间表，具有不同的神经基础，而它们的时间表差异有助于解释青少年时期更高的冒险行为。为了检验这些假设，本研究在一个具有社会经济和种族多样性的 935 名个体样本（年龄在 10 至 30 岁之间）中，使用自我报告和行为测量方法，分别对奖励寻求和冲动的年龄差异进行了研究。与预测一致，奖励寻求的年龄差异呈曲线模式，在青春期前和青春期中期之间增加，此后下降。相比之下，冲动的年龄差异呈线性模式，冲动从 10 岁开始稳步下降。青春期中期冒险行为的脆弱性增加可能是由于相对较高的奖励寻求倾向和仍在发展的自我控制能力相结合的结果。
