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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 29, 2026

A Rapid Food-Preference Assay in Drosophila

A Rapid Food-Preference Assay in Drosophila

Published on: February 11, 2021

Goal-dependent flexibility in preferences formation from rapid payoff sequences.

Michael Brusovansky¹, Nira Liberman¹, Marius Usher¹

¹School of Psychological Sciences and Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2006)

|February 13, 2019

Summary

People can flexibly choose between summation and averaging mechanisms when forming preferences for numerical sequences, adapting to different reward structures.

Keywords:

Decision making adaptivity averaging flexibility intuitive preferences summation

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Decision Making

Background:

Attitude formation for numerical sequences involves summation or averaging principles.
Two mechanisms, accumulators (summation) and population-coding (averaging), are implicated.
These mechanisms are influenced by task demands and individual differences.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if participants can flexibly control preference mechanisms based on reward contingency.
To determine if reward structure influences the deployment of summation versus averaging.

Main Methods:

Two studies were conducted with participants (N1=21, N2=23).
Participants made choices between identical sequence alternatives across two task-framing sessions.
Reward was contingent on either the sum or the average of the numerical sequences.

Main Results:

Participants exhibited an overall bias towards averaging.
Despite the bias, participants demonstrated flexibility in switching between averaging and summation mechanisms.
The deployed mechanism aligned with the specified reward contingency.

Conclusions:

Cognitive mechanisms for preference formation are adaptable to external reward structures.
Individuals can flexibly shift between summation and averaging strategies in decision-making.
This flexibility highlights the dynamic nature of preference formation in response to changing contingencies.