The Impact of the Affective State on the Impulsivity and Decision Making of Adolescents

Adolescents have been found to be more emotional reactivity than adults do (Hare et al., 2008; Silk et al., 2009; Spear, 2011) but little is known about how affective states would influence the decision-making process and hence the risk-seeking behaviors of adolescents. The proposed project will employ a mood induction approach and psychophysiological techniques to examine how different affective states (i.e. neutral, positive and negative) and their associated body signals (i.e. heart rate and skin conductance response) may correlate with the inhibitory control and decision making in adolescent and adult participants. In addition, neuroimaging techniques will be used to examine the modulation effect of the insular cortex, the brain region associated with emotion processing and represented body signals, on the impulsive and reflective system.

Funding Source: RGC - Early Career Scheme (ECS)