Smith et al. (2012) gave people 8 to 17 years of age a test of executive functioning and the Iowa Gambling Task, in which people choose either risky decks of cards with big payoffs-and big potential losses-or less-risky decks with lower payoffs but fewer losses. They found that executive functioning scores improved steadily from 8 to 17 years of age and __________.

Question

A. children generally chose the riskier decks, whereas adolescents chose the less-risky decks
B. the tendency to choose risky decks first increased in early adolescence, and then decreased in middle to late adolescence
C. the tendency to choose risky desks first decreased in early to middle adolescence, and then increased in late adolescence
D. there was a steady improvement with age in the tendency to choose less-risky decks and reject riskier decks

Answer 1

Answer: B