Early experience and incentive relativity in adulthood

Abstract

Human and animal studies have shown the long-lasting impact of early life experience on the development of individual differences in stress responsiveness in later life. Despite the numerous works that evaluate the effect of early experience on different behavioral paradigms, which for the most part are related to aversive situations, there are few studies that assess the effects on the unexpected downshift or omission of rewards. The purpose of this article is to review several independent lines of research into how frustration responses during adulthood may be influenced by early experience. Few articles have been found on the subject and in most cases the results were negative or controversial. However, recent research suggests that the response to frustration or euphoria in adults may be modulated by early experience.