Abstract:
Childhood adversity can have wide-ranging and long-lasting effects on later life. But what are the mechanisms that are responsible for these effects? This article brings together the cognitive science literature on explore-exploit tradeoffs, the empirical literature on early adversity, and the literature in evolutionary biology on \'life history\' to explain how early experience influences later life. We propose one potential mechanism: early experiences influence \'hyperparameters\' that determine the balance between exploration and exploitation. Adversity might accelerate a shift from exploration to exploitation, with broad and enduring effects on the adult brain and mind. These effects may be produced by life-history adaptations that use early experience to tailor development and learning to the likely future states of an organism and its environment.
摘要:
童年的逆境会对以后的生活产生广泛而持久的影响。但是,造成这些影响的机制是什么?本文汇集了有关探索-利用权衡的认知科学文献,关于早期逆境的实证文献,以及进化生物学中关于“生活史”的文献来解释早期经验如何影响以后的生活。我们提出了一种潜在的机制:早期经验会影响“超参数”,从而决定了勘探与开发之间的平衡。逆境可能会加速从探索到开发的转变,对成人的大脑和思想有广泛而持久的影响。这些影响可能是由生活史适应产生的,这些适应利用早期经验来调整发展和学习,以适应生物体及其环境的可能的未来状态。