Learning in anticipation of reward and punishment: Perspectives across the human lifespan

Abstract

Pavlovian biases influence the interaction between action and valence by coupling reward seeking to action invigoration and punishment avoidance to action suppression. In this study we used an orthogonalised go/no-go task to investigate learning in 247 individuals across the human lifespan (7-80 years) to demonstrate that all participants, independently of age, demonstrated an influence of Pavlovian control. Computational modeling revealed peak performance in young adults was attributable to greater sensitivity to both rewards and punishment. However in children and adolescents an increased bias towards action but not reward sensitivity was observed. In contrast, reduced learning in midlife and older adults was accompanied with decreased reward sensitivity and especially punishment sensitivity. These findings reveal distinct learning capabilities across the human lifespan that cannot be probed using conventional go/reward no-go/punishment style paradigms that have important implications in life-long education.