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Desjardins S, Tang R, Yip S, Roy M, Otto AR. Context effects in cognitive effort evaluation. Psychon Bull Rev 2024:10.3758/s13423-024-02547-8. [PMID: 39102161 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-024-02547-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/07/2024] [Indexed: 08/06/2024]
Abstract
When given a choice, people will avoid cognitively effortful courses of action because the experience of effort is evaluated as aversive and costly. At the same time, a body of work spanning psychology, economics, and neuroscience suggests that goods, actions, and experiences are often evaluated in the context in which they are encountered, rather in absolute terms. To probe the extent to which the evaluation of cognitive effort is also context-dependent, we had participants learn associations between unique stimuli and subjective demand levels across low-demand and high-demand contexts. We probed demand preferences and subjective evaluation using a forced-choice paradigm as well by examining effort ratings, taken both on-line (during learning) and off-line (after choice). When choosing between two stimuli objectively identical in terms of demand, participants showed a clear preference for the stimulus learned in the low- versus high-demand context and rated this stimulus as more subjectively effortful than the low-demand context in on-line but not off-line ratings, suggesting an assimilation effect. Finally, we observed that the extent to which individual participants who exhibited stronger assimilation effects in off-line demand ratings were more likely to manifest an assimilation effect in demand preferences. Broadly, our findings suggest that effort evaluations occur in a context-dependent manner and are specifically assimilated to the broader context in which they occur.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rui Tang
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
| | - Seffie Yip
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
| | - Mathieu Roy
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
| | - A Ross Otto
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
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2
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Anlló H, Bavard S, Benmarrakchi F, Bonagura D, Cerrotti F, Cicue M, Gueguen M, Guzmán EJ, Kadieva D, Kobayashi M, Lukumon G, Sartorio M, Yang J, Zinchenko O, Bahrami B, Silva Concha J, Hertz U, Konova AB, Li J, O'Madagain C, Navajas J, Reyes G, Sarabi-Jamab A, Shestakova A, Sukumaran B, Watanabe K, Palminteri S. Comparing experience- and description-based economic preferences across 11 countries. Nat Hum Behav 2024; 8:1554-1567. [PMID: 38877287 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-01894-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2023] [Accepted: 04/19/2024] [Indexed: 06/16/2024]
Abstract
Recent evidence indicates that reward value encoding in humans is highly context dependent, leading to suboptimal decisions in some cases, but whether this computational constraint on valuation is a shared feature of human cognition remains unknown. Here we studied the behaviour of n = 561 individuals from 11 countries of markedly different socioeconomic and cultural makeup. Our findings show that context sensitivity was present in all 11 countries. Suboptimal decisions generated by context manipulation were not explained by risk aversion, as estimated through a separate description-based choice task (that is, lotteries) consisting of matched decision offers. Conversely, risk aversion significantly differed across countries. Overall, our findings suggest that context-dependent reward value encoding is a feature of human cognition that remains consistently present across different countries, as opposed to description-based decision-making, which is more permeable to cultural factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hernán Anlló
- Human Reinforcement Learning Team, Laboratory of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience, Paris, France.
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France.
| | - Sophie Bavard
- Human Reinforcement Learning Team, Laboratory of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience, Paris, France
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France
- General Psychology Lab, Hamburg University, Hamburg, Germany
| | - FatimaEzzahra Benmarrakchi
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France
- School of Collective Intelligence, Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique, Rabat, Morocco
| | - Darla Bonagura
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France
- Department of Psychiatry, University Behavioral Health Care and Brain Health Institute, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Piscataway, NJ, USA
| | - Fabien Cerrotti
- Human Reinforcement Learning Team, Laboratory of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience, Paris, France
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France
| | - Mirona Cicue
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Maelle Gueguen
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France
- Department of Psychiatry, University Behavioral Health Care and Brain Health Institute, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Piscataway, NJ, USA
| | - Eugenio José Guzmán
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago de Chile, Chile
| | - Dzerassa Kadieva
- International Laboratory for Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Maiko Kobayashi
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Gafari Lukumon
- School of Collective Intelligence, Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique, Rabat, Morocco
| | - Marco Sartorio
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Jiong Yang
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Oksana Zinchenko
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France
- Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Bahador Bahrami
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
| | - Jaime Silva Concha
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago de Chile, Chile
| | - Uri Hertz
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Anna B Konova
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France
- Department of Psychiatry, University Behavioral Health Care and Brain Health Institute, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Piscataway, NJ, USA
| | - Jian Li
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Cathal O'Madagain
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France
- School of Collective Intelligence, Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique, Rabat, Morocco
| | - Joaquin Navajas
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Escuela de Negocios, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Gabriel Reyes
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago de Chile, Chile
| | - Atiye Sarabi-Jamab
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France
- School of Cognitive Sciences, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Anna Shestakova
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France
- Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Bhasi Sukumaran
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France
- Department of Clinical Psychology, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Chennai, India
| | - Katsumi Watanabe
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France
| | - Stefano Palminteri
- Human Reinforcement Learning Team, Laboratory of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience, Paris, France.
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Paris, France.
- Departement d'études cognitives, Ecole normale supérieure, PSL Research University, Paris, France.
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3
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Attaallah B, Petitet P, Zambellas R, Toniolo S, Maio MR, Ganse-Dumrath A, Irani SR, Manohar SG, Husain M. The role of the human hippocampus in decision-making under uncertainty. Nat Hum Behav 2024; 8:1366-1382. [PMID: 38684870 PMCID: PMC11272595 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-01855-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2023] [Accepted: 02/29/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024]
Abstract
The role of the hippocampus in decision-making is beginning to be more understood. Because of its prospective and inferential functions, we hypothesized that it might be required specifically when decisions involve the evaluation of uncertain values. A group of individuals with autoimmune limbic encephalitis-a condition known to focally affect the hippocampus-were tested on how they evaluate reward against uncertainty compared to reward against another key attribute: physical effort. Across four experiments requiring participants to make trade-offs between reward, uncertainty and effort, patients with acute limbic encephalitis demonstrated blunted sensitivity to reward and effort whenever uncertainty was considered, despite demonstrating intact uncertainty sensitivity. By contrast, the valuation of these two attributes (reward and effort) was intact on uncertainty-free tasks. Reduced sensitivity to changes in reward under uncertainty correlated with the severity of hippocampal damage. Together, these findings provide evidence for a context-sensitive role of the hippocampus in value-based decision-making, apparent specifically under conditions of uncertainty.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bahaaeddin Attaallah
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | - Pierre Petitet
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Rhea Zambellas
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Sofia Toniolo
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Maria Raquel Maio
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Akke Ganse-Dumrath
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Sarosh R Irani
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Sanjay G Manohar
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Masud Husain
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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Saulin A, Ting CC, Engelmann JB, Hein G. Connected in Bad Times and in Good Times: Empathy Induces Stable Social Closeness. J Neurosci 2024; 44:e1108232024. [PMID: 38684367 PMCID: PMC11154854 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1108-23.2024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2023] [Revised: 03/20/2024] [Accepted: 03/21/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Humans need social closeness to prosper. There is evidence that empathy can induce social closeness. However, it remains unclear how empathy-related social closeness is formed and how stable it is as time passes. We applied an acquisition-extinction paradigm combined with computational modeling and fMRI, to investigate the formation and stability of empathy-related social closeness. Female participants observed painful stimulation of another person with high probability (acquisition) and low probability (extinction) and rated their closeness to that person. The results of two independent studies showed increased social closeness in the acquisition block that resisted extinction in the extinction block. Providing insights into underlying mechanisms, reinforcement learning modeling revealed that the formation of social closeness is based on a learning signal (prediction error) generated from observing another's pain, whereas maintaining social closeness is based on a learning signal generated from observing another's pain relief. The results of a reciprocity control study indicate that this feedback recalibration is specific to learning of empathy-related social closeness. On the neural level, the recalibration of the feedback signal was associated with neural responses in anterior insula and adjacent inferior frontal gyrus and the bilateral superior temporal sulcus/temporoparietal junction. Together, these findings show that empathy-related social closeness generated in bad times, that is, empathy with the misfortune of another person, transfers to good times and thus may form one important basis for stable social relationships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Saulin
- Department of Psychiatry, Center of Mental Health, Psychosomatic and Psychotherapy, Translational Social Neuroscience Unit, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg 97080, Germany
| | - Chih-Chung Ting
- Department of Psychology, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg 20246, Germany
| | - Jan B Engelmann
- Center for Research in Experimental Economics and Political Decision Making, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1001, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1001, The Netherlands
- Behavioral and Experimental Economics, The Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam 1082, The Netherlands
| | - Grit Hein
- Department of Psychiatry, Center of Mental Health, Psychosomatic and Psychotherapy, Translational Social Neuroscience Unit, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg 97080, Germany
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Gueguen MCM, Anlló H, Bonagura D, Kong J, Hafezi S, Palminteri S, Konova AB. Recent Opioid Use Impedes Range Adaptation in Reinforcement Learning in Human Addiction. Biol Psychiatry 2024; 95:974-984. [PMID: 38101503 PMCID: PMC11065633 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2023.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2022] [Revised: 11/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/08/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Drugs like opioids are potent reinforcers thought to co-opt value-based decisions by overshadowing other rewarding outcomes, but how this happens at a neurocomputational level remains elusive. Range adaptation is a canonical process of fine-tuning representations of value based on reward context. Here, we tested whether recent opioid exposure impacts range adaptation in opioid use disorder, potentially explaining why shifting decision making away from drug taking during this vulnerable period is so difficult. METHODS Participants who had recently (<90 days) used opioids (n = 34) or who had abstained from opioid use for ≥ 90 days (n = 20) and comparison control participants (n = 44) completed a reinforcement learning task designed to induce robust contextual modulation of value. Two models were used to assess the latent process that participants engaged while making their decisions: 1) a Range model that dynamically tracks context and 2) a standard Absolute model that assumes stationary, objective encoding of value. RESULTS Control participants and ≥90-days-abstinent participants with opioid use disorder exhibited choice patterns consistent with range-adapted valuation. In contrast, participants with recent opioid use were more prone to learn and encode value on an absolute scale. Computational modeling confirmed the behavior of most control participants and ≥90-days-abstinent participants with opioid use disorder (75%), but a minority in the recent use group (38%), was better fit by the Range model than the Absolute model. Furthermore, the degree to which participants relied on range adaptation correlated with duration of continuous abstinence and subjective craving/withdrawal. CONCLUSIONS Reduced context adaptation to available rewards could explain difficulty deciding about smaller (typically nondrug) rewards in the aftermath of drug exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maëlle C M Gueguen
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Health Institute and University Behavioral Health Care, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Piscataway, New Jersey; Intercultural Cognitive Network, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Hernán Anlló
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Tokyo, Japan; Watanabe Laboratory, School of Fundamental Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan; Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Computationnelles, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U960, École Normale Supérieure-Université de Recherche Paris Science et Lettres, Paris, France
| | - Darla Bonagura
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Health Institute and University Behavioral Health Care, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Piscataway, New Jersey; Intercultural Cognitive Network, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Julia Kong
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Health Institute and University Behavioral Health Care, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Piscataway, New Jersey
| | - Sahar Hafezi
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Health Institute and University Behavioral Health Care, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Piscataway, New Jersey
| | - Stefano Palminteri
- Intercultural Cognitive Network, Tokyo, Japan; Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Computationnelles, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U960, École Normale Supérieure-Université de Recherche Paris Science et Lettres, Paris, France
| | - Anna B Konova
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Health Institute and University Behavioral Health Care, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Piscataway, New Jersey; Intercultural Cognitive Network, Tokyo, Japan.
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6
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Gabay AS, Pisauro A, O’Nell KC, Apps MAJ. Social environment-based opportunity costs dictate when people leave social interactions. COMMUNICATIONS PSYCHOLOGY 2024; 2:42. [PMID: 38737130 PMCID: PMC11081926 DOI: 10.1038/s44271-024-00094-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2023] [Accepted: 04/23/2024] [Indexed: 05/14/2024]
Abstract
There is an ever-increasing understanding of the cognitive mechanisms underlying how we process others' behaviours during social interactions. However, little is known about how people decide when to leave an interaction. Are these decisions shaped by alternatives in the environment - the opportunity-costs of connecting to other people? Here, participants chose when to leave partners who treated them with varying degrees of fairness, and connect to others, in social environments with different opportunity-costs. Across four studies we find people leave partners more quickly when opportunity-costs are high, both the average fairness of people in the environment and the effort required to connect to another partner. People's leaving times were accounted for by a fairness-adapted evidence accumulation model, and modulated by depression and loneliness scores. These findings demonstrate the computational processes underlying decisions to leave, and highlight atypical social time allocations as a marker of poor mental health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony S. Gabay
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
- Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Andrea Pisauro
- School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK
| | - Kathryn C. O’Nell
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Matthew A. J. Apps
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
- Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Christ Church, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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7
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Ting CC, Salem-Garcia N, Palminteri S, Engelmann JB, Lebreton M. Neural and computational underpinnings of biased confidence in human reinforcement learning. Nat Commun 2023; 14:6896. [PMID: 37898640 PMCID: PMC10613217 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42589-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 10/30/2023] Open
Abstract
While navigating a fundamentally uncertain world, humans and animals constantly evaluate the probability of their decisions, actions or statements being correct. When explicitly elicited, these confidence estimates typically correlates positively with neural activity in a ventromedial-prefrontal (VMPFC) network and negatively in a dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal network. Here, combining fMRI with a reinforcement-learning paradigm, we leverage the fact that humans are more confident in their choices when seeking gains than avoiding losses to reveal a functional dissociation: whereas the dorsal prefrontal network correlates negatively with a condition-specific confidence signal, the VMPFC network positively encodes task-wide confidence signal incorporating the valence-induced bias. Challenging dominant neuro-computational models, we found that decision-related VMPFC activity better correlates with confidence than with option-values inferred from reinforcement-learning models. Altogether, these results identify the VMPFC as a key node in the neuro-computational architecture that builds global feeling-of-confidence signals from latent decision variables and contextual biases during reinforcement-learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chih-Chung Ting
- General Psychology, Universität Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 11, 20146, Hamburg, Germany.
- CREED, Amsterdam School of Economics (ASE), Universiteit van Amsterdam, Roetersstraat 11, 1018 WB, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
| | - Nahuel Salem-Garcia
- Swiss Center for Affective Science, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Chem. des Mines 9, 1202, Genève, Switzerland
| | - Stefano Palminteri
- Département d'Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, 29 rue d'Ulm, 75230, Paris cedex 05, France
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Computationnelles, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, 29 rue d'Ulm 75230, Paris cedex 05, France
| | - Jan B Engelmann
- CREED, Amsterdam School of Economics (ASE), Universiteit van Amsterdam, Roetersstraat 11, 1018 WB, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
- The Tinbergen Institute, Gustav Mahlerplein 117, 1082 MS, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
| | - Maël Lebreton
- Swiss Center for Affective Science, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Chem. des Mines 9, 1202, Genève, Switzerland.
- Economics of Human Behavior group, Paris-Jourdan Sciences Économiques UMR8545, Paris School of Economics, 48 Boulevard Jourdan, 75014, Paris, France.
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8
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Perisse E, Miranda M, Trouche S. Modulation of aversive value coding in the vertebrate and invertebrate brain. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2023; 79:102696. [PMID: 36871400 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2023.102696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2022] [Revised: 01/30/2023] [Accepted: 01/31/2023] [Indexed: 03/06/2023]
Abstract
Avoiding potentially dangerous situations is key for the survival of any organism. Throughout life, animals learn to avoid environments, stimuli or actions that can lead to bodily harm. While the neural bases for appetitive learning, evaluation and value-based decision-making have received much attention, recent studies have revealed more complex computations for aversive signals during learning and decision-making than previously thought. Furthermore, previous experience, internal state and systems level appetitive-aversive interactions seem crucial for learning specific aversive value signals and making appropriate choices. The emergence of novel methodologies (computation analysis coupled with large-scale neuronal recordings, neuronal manipulations at unprecedented resolution offered by genetics, viral strategies and connectomics) has helped to provide novel circuit-based models for aversive (and appetitive) valuation. In this review, we focus on recent vertebrate and invertebrate studies yielding strong evidence that aversive value information can be computed by a multitude of interacting brain regions, and that past experience can modulate future aversive learning and therefore influence value-based decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emmanuel Perisse
- Institute of Functional Genomics, University of Montpellier, CNRS, Inserm, 141 rue de la Cardonille, 34094 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
| | - Magdalena Miranda
- Institute of Functional Genomics, University of Montpellier, CNRS, Inserm, 141 rue de la Cardonille, 34094 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Stéphanie Trouche
- Institute of Functional Genomics, University of Montpellier, CNRS, Inserm, 141 rue de la Cardonille, 34094 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
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9
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Ossola P, Garrett N, Biso L, Bishara A, Marchesi C. Anhedonia and sensitivity to punishment in schizophrenia, depression and opiate use disorder. J Affect Disord 2023; 330:319-328. [PMID: 36889442 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.02.120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2022] [Revised: 02/21/2023] [Accepted: 02/22/2023] [Indexed: 03/10/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND From a behavioural perspective anhedonia is defined as diminished interest in the engagement of pleasurable activities. Despite its presence across a range of psychiatric disorders, the cognitive processes that give rise to anhedonia remain unclear. METHODS Here we examine whether anhedonia is associated with learning from positive and negative outcomes in patients diagnosed with major depression, schizophrenia and opiate use disorder alongside a healthy control group. Responses in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test - a task associated with healthy prefrontal cortex function - were fitted to the Attentional Learning Model (ALM) which separates learning from positive and negative feedback. RESULTS Learning from punishment, but not from reward, was negatively associated with anhedonia beyond other socio-demographic, cognitive and clinical variables. This impairment in punishment sensitivity was also associated with faster responses following negative feedback, independently of the degree of surprise. LIMITATIONS Future studies should test the longitudinal association between punishment sensitivity and anhedonia also in other clinical populations controlling for the effect of specific medications. CONCLUSIONS Together the results reveal that anhedonic subjects, because of their negative expectations, are less sensitive to negative feedbacks; this might lead them to persist in actions leading to negative outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paolo Ossola
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy; Department of Mental Health, AUSL of Parma, Parma, Italy.
| | - Neil Garrett
- School of Psychology, University of East Anglia, Norfolk, UK
| | - Letizia Biso
- Department of Mental Health, AUSL of Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Anthony Bishara
- Department of Psychology, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, USA
| | - Carlo Marchesi
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy; Department of Mental Health, AUSL of Parma, Parma, Italy
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10
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Hayes WM, Wedell DH. Testing models of context-dependent outcome encoding in reinforcement learning. Cognition 2023; 230:105280. [PMID: 36099856 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2022] [Revised: 07/05/2022] [Accepted: 08/31/2022] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies of reinforcement learning (RL) have established that choice outcomes are encoded in a context-dependent fashion. Several computational models have been proposed to explain context-dependent encoding, including reference point centering and range adaptation models. The former assumes that outcomes are centered around a running estimate of the average reward in each choice context, while the latter assumes that outcomes are compared to the minimum reward and then scaled by an estimate of the range of outcomes in each choice context. However, there are other computational mechanisms that can explain context dependence in RL. In the present study, a frequency encoding model is introduced that assumes outcomes are evaluated based on their proportional rank within a sample of recently experienced outcomes from the local context. A range-frequency model is also considered that combines the range adaptation and frequency encoding mechanisms. We conducted two fully incentivized behavioral experiments using choice tasks for which the candidate models make divergent predictions. The results were most consistent with models that incorporate frequency or rank-based encoding. The findings from these experiments deepen our understanding of the underlying computational processes mediating context-dependent outcome encoding in human RL.
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Affiliation(s)
- William M Hayes
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, USA.
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11
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Wen T, Egner T. Context-independent scaling of neural responses to task difficulty in the multiple-demand network. Cereb Cortex 2022; 33:6013-6027. [PMID: 36513365 PMCID: PMC10183747 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2022] [Revised: 11/12/2022] [Accepted: 11/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The multiple-demand (MD) network is sensitive to many aspects of cognitive demand, showing increased activation with more difficult tasks. However, it is currently unknown whether the MD network is modulated by the context in which task difficulty is experienced. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined MD network responses to low, medium, and high difficulty arithmetic problems within 2 cued contexts, an easy versus a hard set. The results showed that MD activity varied reliably with the absolute difficulty of a problem, independent of the context in which the problem was presented. Similarly, MD activity during task execution was independent of the difficulty of the previous trial. Representational similarity analysis further supported that representational distances in the MD network were consistent with a context-independent code. Finally, we identified several regions outside the MD network that showed context-dependent coding, including the inferior parietal lobule, paracentral lobule, posterior insula, and large areas of the visual cortex. In sum, a cognitive effort is processed by the MD network in a context-independent manner. We suggest that this absolute coding of cognitive demand in the MD network reflects the limited range of task difficulty that can be supported by the cognitive apparatus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tanya Wen
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, United States
| | - Tobias Egner
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, United States.,Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, United States
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12
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Training diversity promotes absolute-value-guided choice. PLoS Comput Biol 2022; 18:e1010664. [DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2022] [Revised: 11/21/2022] [Accepted: 10/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Many decision-making studies have demonstrated that humans learn either expected values or relative preferences among choice options, yet little is known about what environmental conditions promote one strategy over the other. Here, we test the novel hypothesis that humans adapt the degree to which they form absolute values to the diversity of the learning environment. Since absolute values generalize better to new sets of options, we predicted that the more options a person learns about the more likely they would be to form absolute values. To test this, we designed a multi-day learning experiment comprising twenty learning sessions in which subjects chose among pairs of images each associated with a different probability of reward. We assessed the degree to which subjects formed absolute values and relative preferences by asking them to choose between images they learned about in separate sessions. We found that concurrently learning about more images within a session enhanced absolute-value, and suppressed relative-preference, learning. Conversely, cumulatively pitting each image against a larger number of other images across multiple sessions did not impact the form of learning. These results show that the way humans encode preferences is adapted to the diversity of experiences offered by the immediate learning context.
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13
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Solvi C, Zhou Y, Feng Y, Lu Y, Roper M, Sun L, Reid RJ, Chittka L, Barron AB, Peng F. Bumblebees retrieve only the ordinal ranking of foraging options when comparing memories obtained in distinct settings. eLife 2022; 11:78525. [PMID: 36164830 PMCID: PMC9514845 DOI: 10.7554/elife.78525] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2022] [Accepted: 09/12/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Are animals’ preferences determined by absolute memories for options (e.g. reward sizes) or by their remembered ranking (better/worse)? The only studies examining this question suggest humans and starlings utilise memories for both absolute and relative information. We show that bumblebees’ learned preferences are based only on memories of ordinal comparisons. A series of experiments showed that after learning to discriminate pairs of different flowers by sucrose concentration, bumblebees preferred flowers (in novel pairings) with (1) higher ranking over equal absolute reward, (2) higher ranking over higher absolute reward, and (3) identical qualitative ranking but different quantitative ranking equally. Bumblebees used absolute information in order to rank different flowers. However, additional experiments revealed that, even when ranking information was absent (i.e. bees learned one flower at a time), memories for absolute information were lost or could no longer be retrieved after at most 1 hr. Our results illuminate a divergent mechanism for bees (compared to starlings and humans) of learned preferences that may have arisen from different adaptations to their natural environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cwyn Solvi
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Yonghe Zhou
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Yunxiao Feng
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yuyi Lu
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Mark Roper
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Li Sun
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Rebecca J Reid
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Lars Chittka
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew B Barron
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
| | - Fei Peng
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Department of Psychiatry, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
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14
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Villar ME, Pavão-Delgado M, Amigo M, Jacob PF, Merabet N, Pinot A, Perry SA, Waddell S, Perisse E. Differential coding of absolute and relative aversive value in the Drosophila brain. Curr Biol 2022; 32:4576-4592.e5. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.08.058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2022] [Revised: 06/24/2022] [Accepted: 08/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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15
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Puelma Touzel M, Cisek P, Lajoie G. Performance-gated deliberation: A context-adapted strategy in which urgency is opportunity cost. PLoS Comput Biol 2022; 18:e1010080. [PMID: 35617370 PMCID: PMC9176815 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2021] [Revised: 06/08/2022] [Accepted: 04/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Finding the right amount of deliberation, between insufficient and excessive, is a hard decision making problem that depends on the value we place on our time. Average-reward, putatively encoded by tonic dopamine, serves in existing reinforcement learning theory as the opportunity cost of time, including deliberation time. Importantly, this cost can itself vary with the environmental context and is not trivial to estimate. Here, we propose how the opportunity cost of deliberation can be estimated adaptively on multiple timescales to account for non-stationary contextual factors. We use it in a simple decision-making heuristic based on average-reward reinforcement learning (AR-RL) that we call Performance-Gated Deliberation (PGD). We propose PGD as a strategy used by animals wherein deliberation cost is implemented directly as urgency, a previously characterized neural signal effectively controlling the speed of the decision-making process. We show PGD outperforms AR-RL solutions in explaining behaviour and urgency of non-human primates in a context-varying random walk prediction task and is consistent with relative performance and urgency in a context-varying random dot motion task. We make readily testable predictions for both neural activity and behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maximilian Puelma Touzel
- Mila, Québec AI Institute, Montréal, Canada
- Department of Computer Science & Operations Research, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
- * E-mail:
| | - Paul Cisek
- Department of Neuroscience, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
| | - Guillaume Lajoie
- Mila, Québec AI Institute, Montréal, Canada
- Department of Mathematics & Statistics, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
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16
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Collins AGE, Shenhav A. Advances in modeling learning and decision-making in neuroscience. Neuropsychopharmacology 2022; 47:104-118. [PMID: 34453117 PMCID: PMC8617262 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-021-01126-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2021] [Revised: 07/14/2021] [Accepted: 07/22/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
An organism's survival depends on its ability to learn about its environment and to make adaptive decisions in the service of achieving the best possible outcomes in that environment. To study the neural circuits that support these functions, researchers have increasingly relied on models that formalize the computations required to carry them out. Here, we review the recent history of computational modeling of learning and decision-making, and how these models have been used to advance understanding of prefrontal cortex function. We discuss how such models have advanced from their origins in basic algorithms of updating and action selection to increasingly account for complexities in the cognitive processes required for learning and decision-making, and the representations over which they operate. We further discuss how a deeper understanding of the real-world complexities in these computations has shed light on the fundamental constraints on optimal behavior, and on the complex interactions between corticostriatal pathways to determine such behavior. The continuing and rapid development of these models holds great promise for understanding the mechanisms by which animals adapt to their environments, and what leads to maladaptive forms of learning and decision-making within clinical populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne G E Collins
- Department of Psychology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
| | - Amitai Shenhav
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, & Psychological Sciences and Carney Institute for Brain Science, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
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17
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Bradfield L, Balleine B. Editorial overview: Value-based decision making: control, value, and context in action. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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