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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.

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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.

Keywords:
HabitInstrumental learningOutcome devaluationRat

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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.