Resource‐rational approach to meta‐control problems across the lifespan

Abstract

Conflict of Interest:The authors declare no conflict of interest. Acknowledgements:The authors thank Rasmus Bruckner for his comments on the manuscript.

Valence bias in metacontrol of decision making in adolescents and young adults

“…Second, the reduced capacity for model-based decision making in younger participants might have constrained the degree to which metacontrol is possible. This would mirror suggestions that higher incentives only boost performance when the task demands match an individual's cognitive capacities (Davidow et al, 2018;Ruel, Devine, et al, 2021). However, we did not find that participants who showed more model-based decision making also showed more stakes-based metacontrol.…”

“…In this study, we ask how the ability for metacontrol of decision making (i.e. the dynamic adaptation of decision-making strategies; Eppinger et al, 2021;Ruel, Devine, et al, 2021) develops from adolescence into young adulthood and whether framing effects differentially affect the flexible usage of decision-making strategies in adolescents as compared to young adults.To study metacontrol, we draw on previous work that dissociates two major decision-making strategies: modelbased and model-free decision making (Daw et al, 2011;Dayan & Niv, 2008). Model-based decision making represents a deliberative, prospective strategy that evaluates different choice options by means of forward planning based on knowledge about the structure of the environment (a cognitive model).…”

“…In this study, we ask how the ability for metacontrol of decision making (i.e. the dynamic adaptation of decision-making strategies; Eppinger et al, 2021;Ruel, Devine, et al, 2021) develops from adolescence into young adulthood and whether framing effects differentially affect the flexible usage of decision-making strategies in adolescents as compared to young adults.…”

Meta-control: From psychology to computational neuroscience

“…A further important research question concerns modulators of meta-control as, for instance, effects of psychosocial stress (Möschl et al, 2017;Plessow et al, 2011) and neuromodulatory systems (Cook et al, 2019;Cools, 2016) on the balance between cognitive flexibility and stability or individual differences in the adjustment of meta-control parameters (Mekern et al, 2019). Finally, the ontogenetic development of meta-control (Ruel, Devine, & Eppinger, 2021) and the neurobiological mechanisms underlying meta-control (Zhang et al, 2020) are underspecified. Promising approaches addressing this question are studies in this special issue, which use psychophysiological approaches as a window into the neural dynamics underlying meta-control.…”

“…Another question addressed in this Special Issue pertains to the development of meta-control across the lifespan: Does the degree to which individuals engage in meta-control change across development and aging (Bolenz et al, 2019;Bolenz & Eppinger, 2020;Ruel, Devine, & Eppinger, 2021)? Niebaum et al (2021) used a demand selection task to study developmental differences in proactive versus reactive engagement of control.…”