Roper, Vecera and Vaidya (2014) conducted a research on value driven attentional capture (VDAC) in adolescences. This study proves to be important as it describes the underdeveloped cognitive control of adolescence compared to adults. Adolescence is a time of neurobiological and psychological transformation and includes a state of susceptibility. Attentional capture is known to be the involuntary focusing of attention, a trait that adolescence are more likely to have, causing disruptions in attentional processes. The research conducted provides consistent and reputable evidence that consider the link between the brains dopamine mediated reward system and the bias behavior and cognition of adolescence compared to adults (Galvan, 2010). Although
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Dopamine is a neurotransmitter and neuro-hormone that plays part in cognition, punishment, motivation and attention. Consistent results from Galvan (2010) and Roper et al. (2014) confirms the dramatic change in the dopamine facilitated reward system and how it can alter the attentional control in adolescence, hindering their attentional processes, thus creating reward sensitivity in their age group. Roper et al. (2014) found that in the test phase of the VDAC task, previously rewarded stimuli acted as a distraction from the actual target which was diamond shaped. This verifies that the dopamine system is hyper-responsive when responding to rewards during adolescence (Galvan, 2010). This leads to the difficulty of cognitive control as what is rewarding to an adolescent can influence impulsive risk-taking behavior such as dangerous driving as the need to seek rewards and sensation is amplified (Grose-Fifer, Rodrigues, Hoover, & Zottoli, 2013). Rewards are known to subtly tune the attentional system causing a distraction in their cognitive …show more content…
Roper et al. (2014) conducted a sound experiment that studied value driven attentional capture in adolescence. By VDAC acknowledging that adolescence and adults may have different motivations and therefore different reward stimuli’s that will capture their attention, the use of a monetary reward still presented thorough results. However inconsistences can arise as adults may not be influenced by money as much as adolescence, or adolescents may not even desire money as reward. Galvan (2010) extended her research by focusing on what drives adolescence and what is rewarding to them. She concluded that adolescents have unique rewards and motivations and in order to achieve accurate results, these unique reward stimuli’s must be catered for to improve the VDAC study. Another limitation includes how the function of the dopamine-rich circuitry is facilitated by changes in hormones in adolescence through puberty and therefore may contribute to the reward-related behaviors. Spear (2000), conducted this study and concluded that hormones such as adrenalin are associated with antisocial behavior, which in turn can affect the adolescences behavior and cognitive control. Future studies should monitor the hormone balance in adolescents to determine if this circumstance hinders their cognitive control. It is through these inconsistencies that provide a new framework to
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter and neuro-hormone that plays part in cognition, punishment, motivation and attention. Consistent results from Galvan (2010) and Roper et al. (2014) confirms the dramatic change in the dopamine facilitated reward system and how it can alter the attentional control in adolescence, hindering their attentional processes, thus creating reward sensitivity in their age group. Roper et al. (2014) found that in the test phase of the VDAC task, previously rewarded stimuli acted as a distraction from the actual target which was diamond shaped. This verifies that the dopamine system is hyper-responsive when responding to rewards during adolescence (Galvan, 2010). This leads to the difficulty of cognitive control as what is rewarding to an adolescent can influence impulsive risk-taking behavior such as dangerous driving as the need to seek rewards and sensation is amplified (Grose-Fifer, Rodrigues, Hoover, & Zottoli, 2013). Rewards are known to subtly tune the attentional system causing a distraction in their cognitive …show more content…
Roper et al. (2014) conducted a sound experiment that studied value driven attentional capture in adolescence. By VDAC acknowledging that adolescence and adults may have different motivations and therefore different reward stimuli’s that will capture their attention, the use of a monetary reward still presented thorough results. However inconsistences can arise as adults may not be influenced by money as much as adolescence, or adolescents may not even desire money as reward. Galvan (2010) extended her research by focusing on what drives adolescence and what is rewarding to them. She concluded that adolescents have unique rewards and motivations and in order to achieve accurate results, these unique reward stimuli’s must be catered for to improve the VDAC study. Another limitation includes how the function of the dopamine-rich circuitry is facilitated by changes in hormones in adolescence through puberty and therefore may contribute to the reward-related behaviors. Spear (2000), conducted this study and concluded that hormones such as adrenalin are associated with antisocial behavior, which in turn can affect the adolescences behavior and cognitive control. Future studies should monitor the hormone balance in adolescents to determine if this circumstance hinders their cognitive control. It is through these inconsistencies that provide a new framework to