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Poster A4 in Poster Session A - Tuesday, August 6, 2024, 4:15 – 6:15 pm, Johnson Ice Rink
Early-life unpredictability modulates planning horizon in a structured foraging task
Yifei Chen1, Nora C. Harhen1, Daniel M. Stout2, Aaron M. Bornstein1; 1University of California, Irvine, 2University of California, San Diego
Early-life unpredictability (ELU) and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are associated with multiple long-lasting impacts on decision-making under uncertainty. However, it is unclear whether these effects are distinct and what specific aspects of the decision-making process are affected. Normative analysis has demonstrated that when navigating uncertain state-spaces, individuals should respond to their uncertainty by reducing their planning horizon, a prediction that we have previously confirmed. Here, we examine whether long-term experiences of unpredictability or trauma amplify this rational sensitivity to uncertainty within a structured decision-making task. 297 participants were tasked with completing a patch-leaving task with a complex state-space that required inferring latent structure, along with the Questionnaire of Unpredictability in Childhood (QUIC) and the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL-5). Our results reveal that ELU is associated with a greater decline in planning horizon, specifically in response to task uncertainty, and that this effect does not extend to PTSS, consistent with a theoretical model specifying a critical period of sensitivity to associative unpredictability. Moreover, unpredictability in parental and physical environment appears to be the key factors influencing individuals’ planning behaviors. The results highlight how ELU impacts specific decision-making components.
Keywords: early-life unpredictability decision-making memory-guided behavior post-traumatic stress symptoms