Mistry P, Liljeholm M. Instrumental Divergence and the Value of Control.
Sci Rep 2016;
6:36295. [PMID:
27811969 PMCID:
PMC5095609 DOI:
10.1038/srep36295]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2016] [Accepted: 10/13/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
A critical aspect of flexible choice is that alternative actions yield distinct consequences: Only when available action alternatives produce distinct outcome states does discrimination and selection between actions allow an agent to flexibly obtain the currently most desired outcome. Here, we use instrumental divergence - the degree to which alternative actions differ with respect to their outcome probability distributions - as an index of flexible instrumental control, and assess the influence of this novel decision variable on choice preference. In Experiment 1, when other decision variables, such as expected value and outcome entropy, were held constant, we found a significant preference for high instrumental divergence. In Experiment 2, we used an "auto- vs. self-play" manipulation to eliminate outcome diversity as a source of behavioral preferences, and to contrast flexible instrumental control with the complete absence of voluntary choice. Our results suggest that flexible instrumental control over decision outcomes may have intrinsic value.
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