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Houston AI, Rosenström TH. A critical review of risk-sensitive foraging. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2024; 99:478-495. [PMID: 37987237 DOI: 10.1111/brv.13031] [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: 02/28/2023] [Revised: 10/31/2023] [Accepted: 11/01/2023] [Indexed: 11/22/2023]
Abstract
Foraging is risk sensitive if choices depend on the variability of returns from the options as well as their mean return. Risk-sensitive foraging is important in behavioural ecology, psychology and neurophysiology. It has been explained both in terms of mechanisms and in terms of evolutionary advantage. We provide a critical review, evaluating both mechanistic and evolutionary accounts. Some derivations of risk sensitivity from mechanistic models based on psychophysics are not convincing because they depend on an inappropriate use of Jensen's inequality. Attempts have been made to link risk sensitivity to the ecology of a species, but again these are not convincing. The field of risk-sensitive foraging has provided a focus for theoretical and empirical work and has yielded important insights, but we lack a simple and empirically defendable general account of it in either mechanistic or evolutionary terms. However, empirical analysis of choice sequences under theoretically motivated experimental designs and environmental settings appears a promising avenue for mapping the scope and relative merits of existing theories. Simply put, the devil is in the sequence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alasdair I Houston
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK
| | - Tom H Rosenström
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, PL 21 (Haartmaninkatu 3), 00014, Helsinki, Finland
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Humby T, Patel Y, Carter J, Stokes LJG, Rogers RD, Wilkinson LS. Feeding behaviour, risk-sensitivity and response control: effects of 5-HT 2C receptor manipulations. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 374:20180144. [PMID: 30966915 PMCID: PMC6335459 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2018.0144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/30/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
People, like animals, tend to choose the variable option when given the choice between a fixed and variable delay to reward where, in the variable delay condition, some rewards are available immediately (Laura-Jean et al. 2019 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 374, 20180141. ( doi:10.1098/rstb.2018.0141 )). This bias has been suggested to reflect evolutionary pressures resulting from food scarcity in the past placing a premium on obtaining food quickly that can win out against the risks of sometimes sustaining longer delays to food. The psychologies mediating this effect may become maladaptive in the developed world where food is readily available contributing, potentially, to overeating and obesity. Here, we report our development of a novel touchscreen task in mice allowing comparisons of the impact of food delay and food magnitude across species. We show that mice exhibit the typical preference, as shown by humans, for variable over fixed delays to rewards but no preference when it comes to fixed versus variable reward amounts and further show that this bias is sensitive to manipulations of the 5-HT2C receptor, a key mediator of feeding and impulse control. We discuss the data in terms of the utility of the task to model the psychologies and underlying brain mechanisms impacting on feeding behaviours. This article is part of the theme issue 'Risk taking and impulsive behaviour: fundamental discoveries, theoretical perspectives and clinical implications'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Trevor Humby
- Behavioral Genetics Group, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
- MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
- Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
- Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
| | - Yateen Patel
- Behavioral Genetics Group, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
- MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
- Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
- Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
| | - Jenny Carter
- Behavioral Genetics Group, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
- MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
- Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
- Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
| | | | | | - Lawrence S. Wilkinson
- Behavioral Genetics Group, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
- MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
- Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
- Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
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Isles AR, Winstanley CA, Humby T. Risk taking and impulsive behaviour: fundamental discoveries, theoretical perspectives and clinical implications. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 374:20180128. [PMID: 30966916 PMCID: PMC6335461 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2018.0128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/03/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Our willingness to take risks, our ability to wait or the speed with which to make decisions are central features of our personality. However, it is now recognized that impulsive and risk-taking behaviours are not a unitary construct, and different aspects can be both psychologically and neurally dissociated. The range of neurochemicals and brain systems that govern these behaviours is extensive, and this may be a contributing factor to the phenotypic range seen in the human population. However, this variety can also be pathological as extremes in risk-taking and impulsive behaviours are characteristics of many neuropsychiatric and indeed neurodegenerative disorders. This spans obsessive-compulsive disorder, where behaviour becomes ridged and non-spontaneous, to the nonsensical risk-taking seen in gambling and drug taking. This article is part of the theme issue 'Risk taking and impulsive behaviour: fundamental discoveries, theoretical perspectives and clinical implications'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony R. Isles
- MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Hadyn Ellis Building, Maindy Road, Cardiff CF24 4HQ, UK
| | - Catharine A. Winstanley
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Campus, 2136 West Mall, British Columbia, CanadaV6T 1Z4
| | - Trevor Humby
- School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Tower Building, 70 Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK
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