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Separating desire from prediction of outcome value
1Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
|August 5, 2023
Summary
Motivational "wanting" can override negative memories and predictions, leading to desire for disliked or harmful outcomes. This explains how cravings can occur even when enjoyment isn't expected, as seen in addiction.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Desire is typically guided by positive memories and predictions.
- However, desire can sometimes disconnect from these learned associations.
- This decoupling is linked to the independent mechanisms of motivational incentive salience.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate how motivational 'wanting' can exceed memory-based predictions of outcome value.
- To explore the concept of incentive salience and its role in desire.
- To provide examples of 'wanting' seemingly aversive outcomes.
Main Methods:
- The study presents two proof-of-principle examples.
- These examples illustrate 'wanting' overriding negative predictions or memories.
- The research focuses on the independent operating rules of incentive salience.
Main Results:
- Motivational 'wanting' can lead to desiring outcomes remembered as disgusting.
- 'Wanting' can also occur for outcomes predicted to cause harm.
- Even negatively aversive outcomes can become positively 'wanted'.
Conclusions:
- Incentive salience, or 'wanting', operates independently from prediction and memory.
- This independence can lead to maladaptive behaviors like addiction.
- Understanding this mechanism is crucial for addressing conditions where desire is decoupled from predicted value.
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