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Scheper I, Brazil IA, Claassen JAHR, Bertens D, Geurts S, Kessels RPC. Learning capacity in early-stage Alzheimer's disease: The role of feedback during learning on memory performance. J Neuropsychol 2024; 18:100-119. [PMID: 37319104 DOI: 10.1111/jnp.12330] [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: 01/14/2023] [Revised: 04/21/2023] [Accepted: 06/01/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease is characterized by a decline in episodic memory and executive functioning, hampering learning ability. Insight into outcome-based learning capacity may be relevant for optimizing the learning potential of these patients. To date, mixed results have been found in studies in which cognitively impaired participants have to learn based on positive and negative outcomes. In this study, we investigated the role of negative and positive feedback on memory performance and participants' ability to adjust their behaviour accordingly in a sample of 23 early-stage AD patients and 23 matched healthy controls. We administered a novel computerized object-location memory task, in which participants were instructed to learn and memorize the locations of different everyday objects following errorless learning (EL) and trial-and-error learning (TEL). A separate probabilistic TEL task was employed in which participants had to learn how to adjust their behaviour based on positive and negative feedback. EL had a beneficial general effect on memory performance for object locations. However, this effect was not larger in early-stage AD patients compared to controls and error frequency during acquisition of object locations was unrelated to later recall performance. No group differences were found on the probabilistic learning task with respect to learning performance over time and based on positive and negative feedback. Although the error monitoring system seems intact in patients with early-stage AD, errors during learning are likely acting as a source of interference causing difficulty in storage or retrieval of object locations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Inge Scheper
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Medical Psychology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Center for Psychiatry, GGZ Centraal, Amersfoort, The Netherlands
| | - Inti A Brazil
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Division Diagnostics, Research, & Education, Forensic Psychiatric Centre Pompestichting, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Jurgen A H R Claassen
- Department of Geriatric Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
| | - Dirk Bertens
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Klimmendaal Rehabilitation Specialists, Arnhem, The Netherlands
| | - Sofie Geurts
- Department of Medical Psychology, Canisius Wilhelmina Hospital, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Roy P C Kessels
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Medical Psychology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Klimmendaal Rehabilitation Specialists, Arnhem, The Netherlands
- Vincent van Gogh Institute for Psychiatry, Venray, The Netherlands
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2
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Zhang Y, Huynh TKT, Dyson BJ. Deliberately making miskates: Behavioural consistency under win maximization and loss maximization conditions. NPJ SCIENCE OF LEARNING 2023; 8:55. [PMID: 38057350 DOI: 10.1038/s41539-023-00206-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2022] [Accepted: 11/17/2023] [Indexed: 12/08/2023]
Abstract
We argue that the feedback traditionally used to indicate negative outcomes causes future detrimental performance because of the default goal of win maximization. In gaming paradigms where participants intentionally performed as well (win maximization) and as poorly (loss maximization) as possible, we showed a double dissociation where actions following wins were more consistent during win maximization, but actions following losses were more consistent during loss maximization. This broader distinction between goal-congruent and goal-incongruent feedback suggests that individuals are able to flexibly redefine their definition of 'success', and provide a reconsideration of the way we think about 'losing'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Benjamin James Dyson
- University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
- Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada.
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Garon NM, English SD. Heterogeneity of decision-making strategies for preschoolers on a variant of the IGT. APPLIED NEUROPSYCHOLOGY. CHILD 2022; 11:811-824. [PMID: 34505556 DOI: 10.1080/21622965.2021.1973470] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Adaptive decision-making strategies are critical for dealing with the complexity of the social world. The present study investigated the use of decision-making strategies in preschoolers and their association to prosocial behavior and peer problems. Eighty-six preschoolers aged 3- and 4-years completed the preschool decision-making task (PGT), a child variant of the Iowa Gambling task . Win-stay/lose-shift responses along with exploration (consecutive choices from the advantageous deck) and exploitation (shifting between options) were examined. Preschoolers showed a range of strategies, with 4-year-olds adapting their approach as the game progressed and making better use of feedback in comparison to 3-year-olds. Children who differed in terms of choices from the advantageous deck were distinguished by different combinations of exploration and exploitation. Furthermore, unique combinations of decision-making strategies also distinguished children who were rated as high versus low in prosocial behavior as well as children rated as having a high versus low level of peer problems. The findings suggest that consideration of strategies used in decision-making tasks could provide useful insight in a clinical setting, particularly for populations with social difficulties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nancy Marie Garon
- Department of Psychology, Mount Allison University, Sackville, Canada
| | - Sarah D English
- Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
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Pupil dilation and response slowing distinguish deliberate explorative choices in the probabilistic learning task. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE, & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2022; 22:1108-1129. [PMID: 35359274 PMCID: PMC9458574 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-022-00996-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
This study examined whether pupil size and response time would distinguish directed exploration from random exploration and exploitation. Eighty-nine participants performed the two-choice probabilistic learning task while their pupil size and response time were continuously recorded. Using LMM analysis, we estimated differences in the pupil size and response time between the advantageous and disadvantageous choices as a function of learning success, i.e., whether or not a participant has learned the probabilistic contingency between choices and their outcomes. We proposed that before a true value of each choice became known to a decision-maker, both advantageous and disadvantageous choices represented a random exploration of the two options with an equally uncertain outcome, whereas the same choices after learning manifested exploitation and direct exploration strategies, respectively. We found that disadvantageous choices were associated with increases both in response time and pupil size, but only after the participants had learned the choice-reward contingencies. For the pupil size, this effect was strongly amplified for those disadvantageous choices that immediately followed gains as compared to losses in the preceding choice. Pupil size modulations were evident during the behavioral choice rather than during the pretrial baseline. These findings suggest that occasional disadvantageous choices, which violate the acquired internal utility model, represent directed exploration. This exploratory strategy shifts choice priorities in favor of information seeking and its autonomic and behavioral concomitants are mainly driven by the conflict between the behavioral plan of the intended exploratory choice and its strong alternative, which has already proven to be more rewarding.
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Banks PJ, Bennett PJ, Sekuler AB, Gruber AJ. Cannabis use is associated with sexually dimorphic changes in executive control of visuospatial decision-making. Front Integr Neurosci 2022; 16:884080. [PMID: 36081608 PMCID: PMC9445243 DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2022.884080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2022] [Accepted: 07/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
When the outcome of a choice is less favorable than expected, humans and animals typically shift to an alternate choice option on subsequent trials. Several lines of evidence indicate that this “lose-shift” responding is an innate sensorimotor response strategy that is normally suppressed by executive function. Therefore, the lose-shift response provides a covert gauge of cognitive control over choice mechanisms. We report here that the spatial position, rather than visual features, of choice targets drives the lose-shift effect. Furthermore, the ability to inhibit lose-shift responding to gain reward is different among male and female habitual cannabis users. Increased self-reported cannabis use was concordant with suppressed response flexibility and an increased tendency to lose-shift in women, which reduced performance in a choice task in which random responding is the optimal strategy. On the other hand, increased cannabis use in men was concordant with reduced reliance on spatial cues during decision-making, and had no impact on the number of correct responses. These data (63,600 trials from 106 participants) provide strong evidence that spatial-motor processing is an important component of economic decision-making, and that its governance by executive systems is different in men and women who use cannabis frequently.
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Affiliation(s)
- Parker J. Banks
- Vision and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Patrick J. Bennett
- Vision and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Allison B. Sekuler
- Vision and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, North York, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Aaron J. Gruber
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada
- *Correspondence: Aaron J. Gruber
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Dyson BJ. Variability in competitive decision-making speed and quality against exploiting and exploitative opponents. Sci Rep 2021; 11:2859. [PMID: 33536472 PMCID: PMC7859242 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-82269-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2020] [Accepted: 01/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
A presumption in previous work has been that sub-optimality in competitive performance following loss is the result of a reduction in decision-making time (i.e., post-error speeding). The main goal of this paper is to test the relationship between decision-making speed and quality, with the hypothesis that slowing down decision-making should increase the likelihood of successful performance in cases where a model of opponent domination can be implemented. Across Experiments 1–3, the speed and quality of competitive decision-making was examined in a zero-sum game as a function of the nature of the opponent (unexploitable, exploiting, exploitable). Performance was also examined against the nature of a credit (or token) system used as a within-experimental manipulation (no credit, fixed credit, variable credit). To compliment reaction time variation as a function of outcome, both the fixed credit and variable credit conditions were designed to slow down decision-making, relative to a no credit condition where the game could be played in quick succession and without interruption. The data confirmed that (a) self-imposed reductions in processing time following losses (post-error speeding) were causal factors in determining poorer-quality behaviour, (b) the expression of lose-shift was less flexible than the expression of win-stay, and, (c) the use of a variable credit system may enhance the perceived control participants have against exploitable opponents. Future work should seek to disentangle temporal delay and response interruption as determinants of decision-making quality against numerous styles of opponency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin James Dyson
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, P-217 Biological Sciences Building, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E9, Canada. .,Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. .,University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
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Switching Competitors Reduces Win-Stay but Not Lose-Shift Behaviour: The Role of Outcome-Action Association Strength on Reinforcement Learning. GAMES 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/g11030025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Predictability is a hallmark of poor-quality decision-making during competition. One source of predictability is the strong association between current outcome and future action, as dictated by the reinforcement learning principles of win–stay and lose–shift. We tested the idea that predictability could be reduced during competition by weakening the associations between outcome and action. To do this, participants completed a competitive zero-sum game in which the opponent from the current trial was either replayed (opponent repeat) thereby strengthening the association, or, replaced (opponent change) by a different competitor thereby weakening the association. We observed that win–stay behavior was reduced during opponent change trials but lose–shiftbehavior remained reliably predictable. Consistent with the group data, the number of individuals who exhibited predictable behavior following wins decreased for opponent change relative to opponent repeat trials. Our data show that future actions are more under internal control following positive relative to negative outcomes, and that externally breaking the bonds between outcome and action via opponent association also allows us to become less prone to exploitation.
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Nussenbaum K, Hartley CA. Reinforcement learning across development: What insights can we draw from a decade of research? Dev Cogn Neurosci 2019; 40:100733. [PMID: 31770715 PMCID: PMC6974916 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2019.100733] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2019] [Revised: 10/24/2019] [Accepted: 11/04/2019] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The past decade has seen the emergence of the use of reinforcement learning models to study developmental change in value-based learning. It is unclear, however, whether these computational modeling studies, which have employed a wide variety of tasks and model variants, have reached convergent conclusions. In this review, we examine whether the tuning of model parameters that govern different aspects of learning and decision-making processes vary consistently as a function of age, and what neurocognitive developmental changes may account for differences in these parameter estimates across development. We explore whether patterns of developmental change in these estimates are better described by differences in the extent to which individuals adapt their learning processes to the statistics of different environments, or by more static learning biases that emerge across varied contexts. We focus specifically on learning rates and inverse temperature parameter estimates, and find evidence that from childhood to adulthood, individuals become better at optimally weighting recent outcomes during learning across diverse contexts and less exploratory in their value-based decision-making. We provide recommendations for how these two possibilities - and potential alternative accounts - can be tested more directly to build a cohesive body of research that yields greater insight into the development of core learning processes.
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Dyson BJ, Steward BA, Meneghetti T, Forder L. Behavioural and neural limits in competitive decision making: The roles of outcome, opponency and observation. Biol Psychol 2019; 149:107778. [PMID: 31593749 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.107778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2019] [Revised: 07/31/2019] [Accepted: 09/24/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
To understand the boundaries we set for ourselves in terms of environmental responsibility during competition, we examined a neural index of outcome valence (feedback-related negativity; FRN) in relation to an early index of visual attention (N1), a later index of motivational significance (P3), and, eventual behaviour. In Experiment 1 (n = 36), participants either were (play) or were not (observe) responsible for action selection. In Experiment 2 (n = 36), opponents additionally either could (exploitable) or could not (unexploitable) be beaten. Various failures in reinforcement learning expression were revealed including large-scale approximations of random behaviour. Against unexploitable opponents, N1 determined the extent to which negative and positive outcomes were perceived as distinct categories by FRN. Against exploitable opponents, FRN determined the extent to which P3 generated neural gain for future events. Differential activation of the N1 - FRN - P3 processing chain provides a framework for understanding the behavioural dynamism observed during competitive decision making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin James Dyson
- University of Alberta, Canada; University of Sussex, UK; Ryerson University, Canada.
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