The older the better: a fourth-order adaptive network model for reward-driven choices of emotion regulation strategies over time

The choice of which emotion regulation strategy to use changes depending on context, which within Psychology is referred to as ‘flexibility’. Besides that, choices of emotion regulation strategies are prone to various other factors, ranging from culture to gender, expectations of their effect, age, etc. This paper considers the phenomenon where choices of emotion regulation strategies change adaptively with age. In addition, the choices within specific age frames are driven by some kind of reward that affects in an adaptive manner the learning of a specific emotion regulation strategy. These adaptive phenomena involve plasticity or metaplasticity of different orders. They have been modeled by a fourth-order adaptive mental network model where the choice of emotion regulation strategies is motivated by reward prediction, and different age phases have their own adaptive influences. Simulation results are discussed for evaluation of the adaptive network model. The fourth-order adaptive network model presented here extends a second-order adaptive network model previously addressed in a paper at the conference COMPLEX NETWORKS 2019.