Age Effects on Relative Value Learning

Authors: Elaine Yu , William Hayes

Field of Study: Psychology

Program Affiliation: Undergraduate Research Award, DReaM Lab

Faculty Mentors: William Hayes

Easel: 7

Timeslot: Midday

Abstract: Relative value learning refers to learning the context-dependent value of a choice option (“option A is less than option B”). This is opposed to absolute value learning, which evaluates the context-independent value of each option (“option A is 15, option B is 18”). An experiment was performed where participants decided repeatedly between pairs of symbols to observe if there is a difference in relative value learning between age groups (younger=18-30, older=60+). Participants were presented with 4 randomized pairs of symbols repeatedly in the learning phase and the same symbols in novel pairings for the transfer phase, where they were asked to pick the more rewarding symbol in each pair without receiving feedback. Results indicate that older adults perform significantly worse on trials where absolute and relative values conflict, suggesting a higher relative value bias. This study can inform future research on how older adults encode values within context.