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Learning to Choose: Behavioral Dynamics Underlying the Initial Acquisition of Decision Making.
Samantha R White1, Michael W Preston1, Kyra Swanson1
1Department of Neuroscience, American University, Washington, DC, USA.
Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|March 11, 2024
Summary
Decision-making involves learning choice values and making choices separately. With experience, rats improved decision-making by reducing information needed and lowering decision thresholds.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Animal Behavior
Background:
- Current decision-making theories focus on well-trained participants, leaving the initial learning process unclear.
- Understanding how decision-making skills evolve during initial learning is crucial for a complete model.
Approach:
- A novel behavioral design in male rats separated learning stimulus-reward values from learning to make choices.
- Drift diffusion modeling analyzed changes in information integration and decision thresholds during learning.
Key Points:
- Initial choice tasks led to slower responses, which decreased with experience but persisted.
- Response slowing correlated with increased variability when choosing higher-value options.
- Rats required less information for choices over time, with reduced decision thresholds observed after one session.
Conclusions:
- Value and choice learning are distinct processes in decision-making.
- Experience significantly enhances decision-making performance by optimizing information processing and threshold adjustments.
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