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Stimulus conditions that promote habitual control
Zachary J Pierce-Messick1, Laura H Corbit2
1Department of Psychology, The University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G3, Canada.
Scientific Reports
|December 5, 2024
Summary
Stimulus-signaled training promotes habitual control in rats, making behavior insensitive to reward changes. Self-paced training preserves goal-directed behavior, highlighting how training conditions influence action control.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Animal Cognition
- Learning and Memory
Background:
- Instrumental training can lead to either goal-directed or habitual control of behavior.
- Stimulus control is often associated with habitual responding, but its precise role requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how stimulus-signaled training conditions influence the development of habitual versus goal-directed behavior in rats.
- To determine if stimulus-outcome associations contribute to habitual control under discriminative training.
Main Methods:
- Rats were trained under either free-operant (self-paced) or discriminated-operant (stimulus-signaled) conditions.
- Behavioral sensitivity to outcome devaluation was assessed to differentiate between goal-directed and habitual control.
- Experiment 2 involved extended training and presentation of stimuli with reward.
Main Results:
- Stimulus-signaled training promoted habitual control, evidenced by insensitivity to outcome devaluation.
- Free-operant, self-paced training maintained goal-directed control.
- Extended training under discriminated-operant conditions reduced goal-directed control, but stimulus-outcome associations were unlikely to be the primary driver.
Conclusions:
- The presence of a stimulus signaling reward availability during training promotes habitual control over behavior.
- Training procedures significantly impact whether behavior becomes goal-directed or habitual.
- Understanding these mechanisms is crucial for explaining the flexibility and rigidity of learned behaviors.
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