Risk-Taking Facilitates Implicit Learning in Young Adults.

Introduction: Risk-taking is associated with dynamic outcomes, including psychopathology and types of learning related to adaptive behaviors. The goal of the current study was to (1) evaluate risk-related learning in a sample of neurotypical young adults and (2) determine how risk-taking related to motivation and emotional processing (as measured by BIS/BAS Scales).

Methods: Fifty-eight young adults (M = 19.66 years, SD = 1.43 years; 74% female) completed the Balloon Emotional Learning Task (BELT) and the BIS/BAS to measure risk-taking tendencies and motivation and emotional processing, respectively.

Results: Generalized linear mixed models indicate that participants learned to make more advantageous decisions as they engaged in risk-taking behaviors during the BELT. Risk-taking outcomes were positively correlated with self-report of participant's persistent pursuit of goals as measured by the BAS Drive Scale, although these findings were no longer significant after correcting for multiple comparisons.

Conclusions: Together, these results suggest that, in some contexts, risk-taking may support learning and goal-directed behaviors in young adults. These findings have notable implications in improving educational and professional outcomes.