30 September 2026, by Anna Priebe

Photo: AdobeStock/JackF

The current study focuses on adolescents aged 12 to 17 and examines how dynamically they learn from their environment.

Many mental disorders have their origins in adolescence. A team at the Faculty of Psychology and Human Movement Science at the University of Hamburg is investigating the role that dynamic learning processes and their individual progression play in this. In this interview, Laura Langemeyer discusses the current study.

We often have to react swiftly to changing circumstances in certain situations, which means we have to learn very quickly how best to respond. Can you briefly explain what is currently known about these learning processes?

Fundamentally, what’s crucial for the learning process is what’s known as the prediction error. This describes the situation where the reality of an event differs from what we expected. For example, when a machine operates differently than it did the last time we used it, or when a person doesn’t react the same way they did during an encounter two weeks ago. We draw conclusions from this and adjust our behavior accordingly.

However, there are different ways to learn from events and our environment. We can either adjust our behavior in response to the specific prediction error every time something unexpected happens. Or we can try to assess which changes in the environment are significant and which are more likely to be random. Then we only need to adjust our behavior when a significant change occurs. It is precisely this dynamic adaptation that we are researching.

In particular, the question is why these dynamic learning processes work differently in some people. What is your hypothesis?

The hypothesis is that people differ in how well they can dynamically adapt their learning process. We assume that particularly pronounced deviations are associated with mental disorders or psychological symptoms. Both excessive and insufficient adaptation to environmental changes can carry risks. Anxiety symptoms or psychotic symptoms are two examples of conditions in which impaired learning processes have been reported.

Your focus is primarily on children and adolescents. Why is this group so interesting?

Adolescence is a phase of major changes: Adolescents learn a great deal, become more independent, and develop new strategies for coping with stress and their environment. These dynamics offer many opportunities but also make them more vulnerable to mental health issues. Most mental disorders develop during this age range and, unfortunately, often persist into adulthood. That is why this phase is particularly important for understanding how mental health issues arise and how they can be addressed early on.

You’re currently conducting a study for which you’re still looking for participants. What is the goal of this study?

We’re indeed still looking for adolescents to participate in our study through the end of the year. During a laboratory session, participants complete computer tasks that simulate the dynamic learning process. This means they have to react to changes and apply what they’ve learned in the next round. At the same time, we use non-invasive methods to measure various physiological parameters, such as brain waves, heart rate, and pupil size.

In addition, participants complete a series of questionnaires. During the analysis, we can then examine the learning process at the behavioral and neurophysiological levels and correlate it with the psychological measures. This allows us to investigate how deviations in learning processes are related to psychological symptoms and what protective role social support plays in this context. An important part of the study is our follow-up phone calls. Every six months, we assess how our participants are doing and whether we can predict their well-being and changes in symptoms based on the learning processes measured in the lab.

What can you infer from these results?

If we understand how mental disorders develop, we can develop early interventions and therapeutic approaches. Prevention is particularly important during adolescence to prevent the long-term and often chronic course of mental illness. However, further research is needed before we reach that point. Our project contributes to this effort, for example, by examining the connection to the social environment.

(This content has been translated automatically.)