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Related Concept Videos

Decision Making01:20

Decision Making

216
Decision-making is a fundamental cognitive process that involves evaluating alternatives and selecting among them. This process can range from simple choices, such as deciding what to wear, to complex decisions, like choosing a major in college or a career path. The complexity of the decision often dictates the approach we use, which can be broadly categorized into two types: automatic and controlled decision-making.
Automatic decision-making is fast, intuitive, and relies on gut feelings...
216

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Count-based decision-making in mice: numerosity vs. stimulus control.

Pınar Toptaş1,2, Ezgi Gür1,3, Fuat Balcı4,5

  • 1Department of Psychology, Koç University, Rumelifeneri Yolu, Sariyer, 34450, Istanbul, Turkey.

Animal Cognition
|July 17, 2022
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Mice can learn to count lever presses, prioritizing numerical cues over other information when needed. This study reveals strong representational control in counting behavior, even when external cues are ambiguous.

Keywords:
Count-based decision-makingGoal-directed behaviorHabitual learningNumerical switch behaviorRatio and interval schedules

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Area of Science:

  • Behavioral Neuroscience
  • Animal Cognition
  • Decision Making

Background:

  • Behavioral control in animals relies on numerical and temporal information.
  • Mice can shift from relying on discriminative stimuli to temporal/probabilistic cues when stimuli become uninformative.
  • Counting behavior dynamics differ from temporal control due to distinct response-outcome contingencies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate numerical decision-making strategies in mice.
  • To examine how mice adjust counting behavior when discriminative stimuli become uninformative.
  • To determine the influence of representational control versus stimulus control in counting.

Main Methods:

  • Mice (N=32) were trained to press levers a specific number of times (10 or 20) signaled by a light.
  • The informative value of the light stimulus was removed during testing by signaling both options.
  • Behavioral strategies, including switching between options, were analyzed in relation to numerical and probabilistic information.

Main Results:

  • Mice spontaneously adopted a numerical decision strategy, influenced by probabilistic information, even when ignoring discriminative stimuli.
  • Switching behavior frequency changed when the discriminative stimulus became non-informative, but probability sensitivity remained.
  • A significant portion of trials (25%) showed mice employing a numerical strategy independent of the discriminative stimulus.

Conclusions:

  • Counting behavior in mice exhibits strong representational control, persisting even when external cues are ambiguous.
  • Mice can utilize probabilistic information to guide numerical decisions.
  • Findings suggest that internal representations play a crucial role in counting, overriding stimulus control under certain conditions.