Individuals with adverse childhood experiences explore less and underweight reward feedback

Abstract

Significance Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are extreme stressors that have a profound impact on cognitive development. Using an explore/exploit foraging paradigm, we demonstrate that ACEs are associated with reduced exploration, leading these individuals to accumulate fewer rewards from their environment. Using computational modeling, we identify that reduced exploration is associated with ACE-exposed individuals underweighting reward feedback, which highlights a cognitive mechanism that may link childhood trauma to the onset and maintenance of psychopathology.