The preference for surprise in reinforcement learning underlies the differences in developmental changes in risk preference between autistic and neurotypical youth / Kentaro KATAHIRA ; Hironori AKECHI ; Atsushi SENJU in Molecular Autism, 16 (2025)  

Public ISBD [article]  inMolecular Autism > 16 (2025) . - 3 Titre : The preference for surprise in reinforcement learning underlies the differences in developmental changes in risk preference between autistic and neurotypical youth Type de document : Texte imprimé et/ou numérique Auteurs : Kentaro KATAHIRA, Auteur ; Hironori AKECHI, Auteur ; Atsushi SENJU, Auteur Article en page(s) : 3 Langues : Anglais (eng) Mots-clés : Humans  Adolescent  Child  Male  Female  Reinforcement, Psychology  Young Adult  Autistic Disorder/psychology  Adult  Choice Behavior  Risk-Taking  Learning  Autism  Developmental changes  Reinforcement learning  Risk preference  Surprise  the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Committee on Ethics of  Experimental Research on Human Subjects, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences,  University of Tokyo (156-17). Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing  interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : BACKGROUND: Risk preference changes nonlinearly across development. Although extensive developmental research on the neurotypical (NTP) population has shown that risk preference is highest during adolescence, developmental changes in risk preference in autistic (AUT) people, who tend to prefer predictable behaviors, have not been investigated. Here, we aimed to investigate these changes and underlying computational mechanisms. METHOD: We ran a game-like risk-sensitive reinforcement learning task on 75 participants aged 6-30 years (AUT group, n = 31; NTP group, n = 44). Focusing on choices between alternatives with the same objective value but different risks, we calculated the risk preference and stay probability of a risky choice after a rewarding or non-rewarding outcome. Analyses using t-tests and multiple regression analyses were conducted. Using the choice-related data of each participant, we fit four reinforcement learning models and compared the fit of each model to the data. Furthermore, we validated the results of model fitting with multiple methods, model recovery, parameter recovery, and posterior predictive check. RESULTS: We found a significant difference in nonlinear developmental changes in risk preference between the AUT and NTP groups. The computational modeling approach with reinforcement learning models revealed that individual preferences for surprise modulated such preferences. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that for NTP people, adolescence is a developmental period involving risk preference, possibly due to lower surprise aversion. Conversely, for AUT people, who show opposite developmental change of risk preference, adolescence could be a developmental period involving risk avoidance because of low surprise preference. En ligne : https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13229-025-00637-5 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=555 [article] The preference for surprise in reinforcement learning underlies the differences in developmental changes in risk preference between autistic and neurotypical youth [Texte imprimé et/ou numérique] / Kentaro KATAHIRA, Auteur ; Hironori AKECHI, Auteur ; Atsushi SENJU, Auteur . - 3. Langues : Anglais (eng) in Molecular Autism > 16 (2025) . - 3 Mots-clés : Humans  Adolescent  Child  Male  Female  Reinforcement, Psychology  Young Adult  Autistic Disorder/psychology  Adult  Choice Behavior  Risk-Taking  Learning  Autism  Developmental changes  Reinforcement learning  Risk preference  Surprise  the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Committee on Ethics of  Experimental Research on Human Subjects, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences,  University of Tokyo (156-17). Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing  interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : BACKGROUND: Risk preference changes nonlinearly across development. Although extensive developmental research on the neurotypical (NTP) population has shown that risk preference is highest during adolescence, developmental changes in risk preference in autistic (AUT) people, who tend to prefer predictable behaviors, have not been investigated. Here, we aimed to investigate these changes and underlying computational mechanisms. METHOD: We ran a game-like risk-sensitive reinforcement learning task on 75 participants aged 6-30 years (AUT group, n = 31; NTP group, n = 44). Focusing on choices between alternatives with the same objective value but different risks, we calculated the risk preference and stay probability of a risky choice after a rewarding or non-rewarding outcome. Analyses using t-tests and multiple regression analyses were conducted. Using the choice-related data of each participant, we fit four reinforcement learning models and compared the fit of each model to the data. Furthermore, we validated the results of model fitting with multiple methods, model recovery, parameter recovery, and posterior predictive check. RESULTS: We found a significant difference in nonlinear developmental changes in risk preference between the AUT and NTP groups. The computational modeling approach with reinforcement learning models revealed that individual preferences for surprise modulated such preferences. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that for NTP people, adolescence is a developmental period involving risk preference, possibly due to lower surprise aversion. Conversely, for AUT people, who show opposite developmental change of risk preference, adolescence could be a developmental period involving risk avoidance because of low surprise preference. En ligne : https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13229-025-00637-5 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=555

---

1 (1 - 1 / 1)