The computational basis of following advice in adolescents

Advice taking helps one quickly acquire knowledge and make decisions. This age-comparative study (in 8-10, 13-15 and 18-22 year olds) investigated developmental differences in how advice, experience and exploration influence learning. The results showed that adolescents were initially easily swayed to follow peer advice but also switched more rapidly to exploring alternatives, like children. Whereas adults stayed with the advice over the task, adolescents put more weight on their own experience compared to adults. A social learning model showed that although social influence most strongly impacts adolescents’ initial expectations (i.e., their priors), they showed higher exploration and discovered the other good option in the current task. Thus, our model resolved the apparently conflicting findings of adolescents being more and less sensitive to peer influence and provides novel insights in the dynamic interaction between social and individual learning.