In this study, we demonstrate that the shift to simpler decision strategies in older adults is due to a) impairments in the representation of the transition structure of the task and b) diminished signaling of the reward value associated with decision options.
In this project, I study how the use of different learning strategies changes across development.
I am interested in why children and older adults tend to converge on simpler learning strategies and which neural mechanisms underlie age differences in learning.
Some cognitive abilities have been shown to support more complex decision-making strategies such as model-based learning.
However, much of what supports these effortful strategies remains poorly understood, specially in children and older adults.
Some surprising events are just that, surprising.
Others, are both surprising and something we need to learn from in order to do better in the future.
I aim to uncover how individuals of different ages learn from surprising events they should learn from.
When trying to solve a complex goal-directed task such as navigating to a restaurant in a new city, we can apply different types of strategies (or combinations of strategies). We can learn the layout of the new city from a map and then use this knowledge to reach the restaurant, or we can simply put the address in our GPS and let it guide us there.