Exploration is Associated with Socioeconomic Disparities in Learning and Academic Achievement in Adolescence
Year: 2024
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Why do adolescents from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds often underperform on tests of learning and academic achievement? Existing theories propose that these disparities reflect not only external constraints, like limited resources, but also internal decision strategies that adapt to the early environment and influence learning. These theories predict that poorer adolescents explore less and exploit more, which, in turn, reduces learning and academic achievement. However, evidence for this possibility is lacking. Here, we show that lower socioeconomic status is associated with less exploration on a reward learning task (n=124, 12-14-year-olds from the United States). Reduced exploration mediated socioeconomic differences in task performance, school grades, and, in a lower-socioeconomic status subsample, academic skills. Computational modeling revealed that reduced exploration was related to higher loss aversion. Altogether, these findings highlight the importance of considering how socioeconomic status shapes not only the content of learning, but also the learning process itself, and offer a mechanistic explanation for the academic achievement gap.
Language: English
Subfield: General Decision Sciences
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4399276007