Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Incentive Theory: Pull Theory of Motivation01:18

Incentive Theory: Pull Theory of Motivation

485
Incentive theory, or the "pull theory" of motivation, suggests that external rewards primarily drive behavior. Individuals are motivated to engage in activities when they anticipate a desirable outcome. This is why people often work hard for promotions or study intensively to achieve high grades. These incentives can be tangible, physical rewards such as money or promotions, or intangible, non-physical rewards like praise and social recognition.
The theory differentiates between...
485
Primary and Secondary Reinforcers01:23

Primary and Secondary Reinforcers

304
In psychology, reinforcement is a key concept in behavior modification. B.F. Skinner demonstrated this with his experiments involving rats in what is known as a Skinner box. The rats learned to press a lever to receive food, a primary reinforcer that fulfilled their innate need for nourishment.
Effective reinforcers for humans vary depending on the individual and the context. Primary reinforcers, such as food, water, sleep, shelter, and pleasure, have inherent value and satisfy basic biological...
304
Timing and Consequences on Behavior01:08

Timing and Consequences on Behavior

122
In operant conditioning, the timing of reinforcement is crucial. For animals like rats and cats, immediate reinforcement (within a few seconds) is much more effective than delayed reinforcement. For example, a food reward for a rat needs to follow within 30 seconds of pressing a bar to be effective. 
Humans, however, can respond to delayed reinforcers. We often make decisions between immediate small rewards and delayed larger rewards. This ability to delay gratification is a significant...
122
Reinforcement01:23

Reinforcement

280
Positive and negative reinforcement are key concepts in operant conditioning, a learning process where the consequences of a behavior affect the likelihood of that behavior being repeated.
Positive reinforcement occurs when a behavior is followed by the presentation of a rewarding stimulus, increasing the frequency of that behavior. For example:
280
Reinforcement Schedules01:24

Reinforcement Schedules

205
Positive reinforcement is a powerful method for teaching new behaviors to both animals and humans. B.F. Skinner demonstrated this with his experiments using rats in a Skinner box. When a rat pressed a lever, it received a food pellet. This immediate reward encouraged the rat to repeat the behavior. This method, where a reward follows every instance of the behavior, is known as continuous reinforcement. It is highly effective for establishing new behaviors quickly.
Once a behavior is learned,...
205
Instinctive Drift01:05

Instinctive Drift

254
Instinctive drift refers to the tendency of animals to revert to their innate behaviors despite repeated reinforcement. Breland and Breland demonstrated this concept in an experiment with a raccoon. The raccoon was trained to pick up two coins and place them in a container in exchange for food. Initially, the raccoon learned to associate the coins with food, making them a conditioned stimulus or a substitute for food. However, over time, the raccoon became less willing to put the coins into the...
254

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Latent subdimensions of anxiety and depression differentially influence exertion of effort in pursuit of reward versus avoidance of threat.

Translational psychiatry·2026
Same author

A habit and working memory model as an alternative account of human reward-based learning.

Nature human behaviour·2025
Same author

Striatal dopamine can enhance both fast working memory, and slow reinforcement learning, while reducing implicit effort cost sensitivity.

Nature communications·2025
Same author

Episodic memory contributions to working memory-supported reinforcement learning.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2025
Same author

Naturally disengaging control to reveal habits.

Research square·2025
Same author

Genetic changes linked to two different syndromic forms of autism enhance reinforcement learning in early adolescent male but not female mice.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2025

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 23, 2025

Pavlovian Conditioned Approach Training in Rats
06:57

Pavlovian Conditioned Approach Training in Rats

Published on: February 4, 2016

11.0K

Intrinsic rewards explain context-sensitive valuation in reinforcement learning.

Gaia Molinaro1, Anne G E Collins1,2

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States of America.

Plos Biology
|July 17, 2023
PubMed
Summary

Human choices are influenced by context. Our new model shows internal goals, not just external rewards, shape subjective value in reinforcement learning (RL), improving predictions of context-sensitive valuation.

More Related Videos

Studying Food Reward and Motivation in Humans
12:09

Studying Food Reward and Motivation in Humans

Published on: March 19, 2014

23.5K
A Conflict Model of Reward-seeking Behavior in Male Rats
06:11

A Conflict Model of Reward-seeking Behavior in Male Rats

Published on: February 20, 2019

7.5K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 23, 2025

Pavlovian Conditioned Approach Training in Rats
06:57

Pavlovian Conditioned Approach Training in Rats

Published on: February 4, 2016

11.0K
Studying Food Reward and Motivation in Humans
12:09

Studying Food Reward and Motivation in Humans

Published on: March 19, 2014

23.5K
A Conflict Model of Reward-seeking Behavior in Male Rats
06:11

A Conflict Model of Reward-seeking Behavior in Male Rats

Published on: February 20, 2019

7.5K

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Science
  • Neuroscience
  • Computational Psychology

Background:

  • Human decision-making is sensitive to context, where the perceived value of an option changes based on available alternatives.
  • This context-sensitive valuation is observed in reinforcement learning (RL), a process of learning through trial and error.
  • Range adaptation has been a leading explanation, suggesting options are rescaled based on experienced value ranges.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To propose and test an alternative mechanism for context-sensitive valuation in RL.
  • To investigate the role of internally defined goals in shaping subjective value.
  • To introduce and validate a novel intrinsically enhanced RL model.

Main Methods:

  • Developed an intrinsically enhanced RL model combining external rewards with internal goal-achievement signals.
  • Tested the model across seven studies, including existing datasets and a novel preregistered experiment.
  • Compared the model's performance against range adaptation in explaining context-sensitive valuation.

Main Results:

  • The intrinsically enhanced RL model explained context-sensitive valuation as effectively as, or better than, range adaptation.
  • Findings suggest internal, goal-dependent rewards play a significant role in human RL.
  • The model demonstrated improved accuracy in predicting human behavior in context-dependent scenarios.

Conclusions:

  • Internally generated goals are crucial for understanding subjective value in decision-making.
  • Integrating intrinsic reward signals enhances standard RL models for human behavior.
  • This research reframes the understanding of reward processing in reinforcement learning and decision theory.