@article {Ma2020.05.19.105114, author = {I. Ma and B. Westhoff and A.C.K. van Duijvenvoorde}, title = {The Cognitive Mechanisms That Drive Social Belief Updates During Adolescence}, elocation-id = {2020.05.19.105114}, year = {2020}, doi = {10.1101/2020.05.19.105114}, publisher = {Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory}, abstract = {Adolescence is a key life phase for developing well-adjusted social behaviour. Belief updates about the trustworthiness of peers are essential during adolescence as social reorientation emerges and peer relationships intensify. This study maps the age-related changes of those belief updates during adolescence (n = 157, 10-24 years). We used computational modelling and an information sampling paradigm to reveal that three cognitive mechanisms contribute to age-related changes in those belief updates: prior beliefs, prior uncertainty, and uncertainty tolerance. The age-related changes in these three cognitive mechanisms result in increasingly adaptive belief updates from early to mid-adolescence when it comes to beliefs about trustworthiness. Our findings shed light on age-related changes in adaptive learning about others during adolescence.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.}, URL = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/05/22/2020.05.19.105114}, eprint = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/05/22/2020.05.19.105114.full.pdf}, journal = {bioRxiv} }