Table 1.

Overview of behavioral studies.

Authors	Age groups (age range in years)	Task	Incentive type	Main results
Galván and McGlennen, 2013	- Adolescents (13–17) - Young adults (23–35)	Passive reward-delivery task	Primary (water, sucrose, salty or no liquid in neutral option)	- No age differences in reaction to water, sucrose, salty and neutral liquid - Higher positive ratings to sucrose than salty liquids in adolescents than adults on a liquid rating scale
Luking et al., 2014	- Children (7–11) - Young adults (22–26)	Gambling task (card guessing game)	Primary (high and low gains, 4 or 2 pieces; high and low losses, 2 or 1 pieces)	- No age differences in win-stay lose-shift strategy - Children reported more overall positive feelings during the task than adults in a post-scan questionnaire
Grose-Fifer et al., 2014	- Adolescents (13–17) - Young adults (23–35)	Gambling task (card guessing game, reward probability 50%)	Monetary (high and low gains, 32–40 Cents; high and low losses, 6–11 Cents)	Both age groups selected high-monetary incentive cards more often than low-monetary incentive cards
May et al., 2004	Children and adolescents (8–18)	Gambling task (card guessing game)	Monetary (neutral trials, no reward; gain trials, 1 Dollar; loss trials, 50 Cents)	No age differences in win-stay lose-shift strategy
Van Duijvenvoorde et al., 2014	- Adolescents (10–16) - Young adults (18–25)	Gambling task (slot machine task, reward probability 33 and 66%)	Monetary (passed trials, no reward; gain and loss trials, ±10 Cents)	Tendency for risky decisions was not related to age, pubertal development, or reward sensitivity
Ernst et al., 2005	- Adolescents (9–17) - Young adults (20–40)	Gambling task (Wheel of Fortune, reward probability 50%)	Monetary (high and low gains, 4 Dollar or 50 Cents; or reward omission)	- Both age groups more satisfied with high than low gains - Adolescents reported more positive feelings than adults in gain trials in a post-scan questionnaire on incentive delivery
Bjork et al., 2010	- Adolescents (12–17) - Adults (22–42)	Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) Task	Monetary (neutral trials, no reward/ loss; high and low gain and loss trials, 50 Cents or 5 Dollar)	Faster responding and higher accuracy with increasing incentives irrespectively of the valence, but no age differences therein
Bjork et al., 2004	- Adolescents (12–17) - Adults (22–28)	Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) Task	Monetary (neutral trials, no reward/loss; high and low gain and loss trials, 20 Cents, 1 Dollar or 5 Dollar)	No effect of reward magnitude or age group on accuracy or reaction times
Galván et al., 2006	- Children (7–11) - Adolescents (13–17) - Young adults (23–29)	Two-choice reaction time task (reward probability 100%)	Monetary (low, medium, and high number of monetary coins)	Faster reaction times to high than medium and low rewards and this effect is most pronounced in adolescents
Cohen et al., 2010	- Children (8–12) - Adolescents (14–19) - Aduts (25–30)	Probabilistic learning task (83% predictable and random condition)	Monetary (no-reward vs. high and low gain trials, 25 or 5 Cents)	Faster responding to large than small incentives only for the adolescent group
Unger et al., 2014	- Children (10–11) - Mid adolescents (13–14) - Late adolescents (15–17)	Reinforcement learning task (100% valid feedback)	Monetary (no-incentive vs. gain and loss trials, 37 Cents)	- Faster responding and better accuracy on win and loss trials for all age groups - Faster learning for older participants but no age differences in interaction with incentives
Santesso et al., 2011	- Adolescents (16–17) - Young adults (18–29)	Gambling task (60:40% win-loss ratio)	Monetary (high and low gains and losses, 195–205 Cents or 45–55 Cents)	- Adolescents and adults do not differ in reward and punishment sensitivity in personality scales and post-experimental questionnaires - Slower response times when two low or high cards were presented compared to one low and one high card
Van Leijenhorst et al., 2006	- Early adolescents (9–12) - Young adults (18–26)	Gambling task (cake task, high and low risk trials)	Cognitive (gain and loss trials; 1 point)	- Both age groups made better predictions under low-risk than high-risk trials and this performance difference was most pronounced in young adolescents
Teslovich et al., 2014	- Adolescents (11–20) - Adults (22–30)	Random Dot Motion Task	Cognitive (high and low gain trials, 5 or 1 points)	Slower responding for large rewards in the group of adolescents relative to adults, who showed slower responding to small rewards
Paulsen et al., 2015	Children and adolescents (10–22)	Inhibitory control (antisaccade task)	Cognitive (no-reward vs. gain and loss trials, 5 points)	- No differences in reaction times between neutral, gain or loss condition - No age differences in incentive processing
Padmanabhan et al., 2011	- Children (8–13) - Adolescents (14–17) - Adults (18–25)	Inhibitory control (antisaccade task)	Cognitive (no incentive vs. potential gain of points)	Adolescents improved inhibitory control with gains to the adults' performance level
Geier and Luna, 2012	- Adolescents (13–17) - Adults (18–29)	Inhibitory control (antisaccade task)	Cognitive (neutral vs. gain and loss trials, 1–5 points)	No age interaction on loss trials but adolescents made more errors on gain trials
Hämmerer et al., 2010	- Children (9–11) - Adolescents (13–14) - Young adults (20–30) - Older adults (65–75)	Probabilistic learning task (65, 75, or 85% positive feedback probability)	Cognitive (gain and loss of feedback points, 10 points)	- Higher variability in decision-making after loss than gain feedback over all age groups - Adolescents and young adults needed less trials to learn correct responses from trial feedback, showed less variability in decision-making and learned more from gains than from losses as compared to younger and older age groups
Chein et al., 2011	- Adolescents (14–18) - Young adults (19–22) - Adults (24–29)	Risk-taking task (Stoplight task)	Social-induced (alone and peer condition: two friends)	Adolescents but not older age-groups exhibited more risk-decisions when being observed by peers
Jones et al., 2014	- Children (8–12) - Adolescents (13–17) - Young adults (18–25)	Social reinforcement learning task (33, 66, and 100% positive feedback probability)	Social-induced (positive and no positive social feedback)	- Independent of age, rare probability of positive feedback led to more false answers than both continuous or frequent positive feedback - Adolescents demonstrated a lower positive learning rate than children and adults - Participants with a higher positive learning rate were more sensitive to feedback probabilities