Distinct Developmental Trajectories for Risky and Impulsive Decision-making in Chimpanzees

Overview

Journal J Exp Psychol Gen

Specialty Psychology

Date 2023 Jan 23

PMID 36689365

Authors

Alexandra G Rosati

Melissa Emery Thompson

Rebeca Atencia

Joshua W Buckholtz

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Human adolescence is characterized by a suite of changes in decision-making and emotional regulation that promote risky and impulsive behavior. Accumulating evidence suggests that behavioral and physiological shifts seen in human adolescence are shared by some primates, yet it is unclear if the same cognitive mechanisms are recruited. We examined developmental changes in risky choice, intertemporal choice, and emotional responses to decision outcomes in chimpanzees, our closest-living relatives. We found that adolescent chimpanzees were more risk-seeking than adults, as in humans. However, chimpanzees showed no developmental change in intertemporal choice, unlike humans, although younger chimpanzees did exhibit elevated emotional reactivity to waiting compared to adults. Comparisons of cortisol and testosterone indicated robust age-related variation in these biomarkers, and patterns of individual differences in choices, emotional reactivity, and hormones also supported a developmental dissociation between risk and choice impulsivity. These results show that some but not all core features of human adolescent decision-making are shared with chimpanzees. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Citing Articles

Translating time: Challenges, progress, and future directions.

Charvet C, de Sousa A, Vassilopoulos T Brain Res Bull. 2025; 221:111212.

PMID: 39824228 PMC: 11904871. DOI: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2025.111212.

Cole M, Barnes P, Monroe I, Rukundo J, Emery Thompson M, Rosati A Evol Med Public Health. 2024; 12(1):129-142.

PMID: 39239461 PMC: 11375048. DOI: 10.1093/emph/eoae010.

Dynamic inconsistency in great apes.

Salas-Morellon L, Palacios-Huerta I, Call J Sci Rep. 2024; 14(1):18130.

PMID: 39103396 PMC: 11300655. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-67771-7.

Flexible information-seeking in chimpanzees.

Rosati A, Felsche E, Cole M, Atencia R, Rukundo J Cognition. 2024; 251:105898.

PMID: 39059117 PMC: 11343684. DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105898.

Individual differences in sociocognitive traits in semi-free-ranging rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).

Diaz A, Hernandez-Pacheco R, Rosati A Am J Primatol. 2024; 87(2):e23660.

PMID: 38961748 PMC: 11698962. DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23660.

References

Warneken F, Rosati A . Cognitive capacities for cooking in chimpanzees. Proc Biol Sci. 2015; 282(1809):20150229. PMC: 4590439. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.0229. View

Perrin J, Herve P, Leonard G, Perron M, Pike G, Pitiot A . Growth of white matter in the adolescent brain: role of testosterone and androgen receptor. J Neurosci. 2008; 28(38):9519-24. PMC: 6671132. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1212-08.2008. View

Reyna V, Estrada S, DeMarinis J, Myers R, Stanisz J, Mills B . Neurobiological and memory models of risky decision making in adolescents versus young adults. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 2011; 37(5):1125-42. DOI: 10.1037/a0023943. View

van den Bos W, Hertwig R . Adolescents display distinctive tolerance to ambiguity and to uncertainty during risky decision making. Sci Rep. 2017; 7:40962. PMC: 5241878. DOI: 10.1038/srep40962. View

Wobber V, Hare B, Maboto J, Lipson S, Wrangham R, Ellison P . Differential changes in steroid hormones before competition in bonobos and chimpanzees. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010; 107(28):12457-62. PMC: 2906573. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1007411107. View

Mehta P, Welker K, Zilioli S, Carre J . Testosterone and cortisol jointly modulate risk-taking. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2015; 56:88-99. DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.02.023. View

Sawyer S, Azzopardi P, Wickremarathne D, Patton G . The age of adolescence. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2018; 2(3):223-228. DOI: 10.1016/S2352-4642(18)30022-1. View

Sandel A, Langergraber K, Mitani J . Adolescent male chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) form social bonds with their brothers and others during the transition to adulthood. Am J Primatol. 2020; 82(1):e23091. PMC: 7015449. DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23091. View

Wierenga L, Bos M, Schreuders E, Vd Kamp F, Peper J, Tamnes C . Unraveling age, puberty and testosterone effects on subcortical brain development across adolescence. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2018; 91:105-114. DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.02.034. View

10.

Rosati A, Hare B . Chimpanzees and bonobos distinguish between risk and ambiguity. Biol Lett. 2010; 7(1):15-8. PMC: 3030905. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2010.0927. View

11.

Sakai T, Mikami A, Tomonaga M, Matsui M, Suzuki J, Hamada Y . Differential prefrontal white matter development in chimpanzees and humans. Curr Biol. 2011; 21(16):1397-402. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.07.019. View

12.

Laube C, Lorenz R, van den Bos W . Pubertal testosterone correlates with adolescent impatience and dorsal striatal activity. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2020; 42:100749. PMC: 7242510. DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2019.100749. View

13.

Cardoos S, Suleiman A, Johnson M, van den Bos W, Hinshaw S, Dahl R . Social status strategy in early adolescent girls: Testosterone and value-based decision making. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2017; 81:14-21. PMC: 9245628. DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.03.013. View

14.

Bogin B . Evolutionary perspective on human growth. Annu Rev Anthropol. 2002; 28:109-53. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.anthro.28.1.109. View

15.

De Petrillo F, Rosati A . Variation in primate decision-making under uncertainty and the roots of human economic behaviour. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2021; 376(1819):20190671. PMC: 7815434. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0671. View

16.

Robson S, Wood B . Hominin life history: reconstruction and evolution. J Anat. 2008; 212(4):394-425. PMC: 2409099. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2008.00867.x. View

17.

Lerner J, Li Y, Valdesolo P, Kassam K . Emotion and decision making. Annu Rev Psychol. 2014; 66:799-823. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115043. View

18.

Green L, Myerson J, Ostaszewski P . Discounting of delayed rewards across the life span: age differences in individual discounting functions. Behav Processes. 2014; 46(1):89-96. DOI: 10.1016/S0376-6357(99)00021-2. View

19.

Choe J, Dawood M . Salivary and plasma bound and "free" testosterone in men and women. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1984; 148(4):441-5. View

20.

Sabbi K, Emery Thompson M, Machanda Z, Otali E, Wrangham R, Muller M . Sex differences in early experience and the development of aggression in wild chimpanzees. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021; 118(12). PMC: 8000022. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2017144118. View