Asymmetric developmental change regarding the effect of reward and punishment on response inhibition

Reward and punishment influence inhibitory performance, but developmental changes in these effects are not well understood. Our aim was to understand the effects of potential reward gains and losses (as indices of reward and punishment) on response inhibition among children and adolescents. We conducted financial and non-financial go/no-go tasks with 40 boys (8- to 15-year-olds). Participants gained or lost money depending on their performance on the financial task, and score rankings were compared to participants on the non-financial task. We found that adolescents’ inhibitory control, as reflected in their reaction times when they made inhibitory errors, was lower in the reward-present condition than in the reward-absent condition, although accuracy was higher when the reward was available for all participants. Additionally, inhibitory control, specifically among adolescents, was higher for financial feedback than for non-financial feedback. These results suggest that the effects of reward and feedback type on motor impulsivity differ as a function of developmental stage. We discuss the theoretical implications of the present findings in terms of the interaction between emotional feedback and response inhibition among children and adolescents.