ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Behav. Neurosci.
Sec. Individual and Social Behaviors
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1644777
Contextual influences on risk-taking in children and adults
Provisionally accepted
- 1Université de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- 2University of St Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom
- 3Universite de Neuchatel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- 4Taipei Medical University, Taipei City, Taiwan
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Human risk-taking is well known to be influenced by context-dependent factors. In a previous study, we demonstrated that non-human primates similarly exhibit contextual risk-preference: two species of great apes showed risk-prone or risk-neutral choices depending on the manner in which risk was presented. Here, we applied the same experimental paradigm to human participants across different age groups using a computerised online interface. Consistent with the findings in great apes, we observed shifts in risk preference contingent on the experimental context, with these effects particularly pronounced in children. In a subsequent experiment, we explored potential cognitive mechanisms underlying this preference shift, identifying a general propensity for exploration and framing effects as promising explanatory factors common to both humans and animals.
Keywords: Behavioural Economics, Risk taking behaviour, cognitive biases, decision-making, Risk preference, framing effect
Received: 10 Jun 2025; Accepted: 09 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lacombe, Zuberbühler and Dahl. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Penelope Lacombe, penelopelacombe@yahoo.fr
Christoph D Dahl, christoph.d.dahl@gmail.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.