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Externally Provided Rewards Increase Internal Preference, but Not as Much as Preferred Ones Without Extrinsic

Jianhong Zhu1, Kentaro Katahira2, Makoto Hirakawa1

  • 1Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-1-1 Kagamiyama, Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8524 Japan.

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Summary

External rewards influence preferences formed through choice-induced preference change (CIPC). However, internally learned values may be preferred over externally learned ones, suggesting distinct value systems.

Keywords:
Choice-based learning (CBL)Computational modelingReinforcement learning (RL)Reward learning taskSelf-prioritization effect

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Science
  • Neuroscience
  • Decision Science

Background:

  • Preferences are shaped by choices, a phenomenon known as choice-induced preference change (CIPC).
  • The interplay between externally learned values (from rewards) and internally developed preferences is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how values learned through external rewards impact preferences formed via CIPC.
  • To compare the influence of externally guided decision-making (EDM) versus internally guided decision-making (IDM) on preference formation.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized two decision-making tasks: externally guided decision-making (EDM) and internally guided decision-making (IDM).
  • Presented stimuli with pre-learned values from EDM and novel stimuli within the IDM task.
  • Examined how EDM-learned values affect initial preferences and subsequent CIPC within the IDM task.

Main Results:

  • Stimuli reinforced by external rewards in EDM showed initial preference and increased preference through CIPC in IDM.
  • However, these externally influenced stimuli were less preferred than the most preferred novel stimuli in IDM, indicating the superiority of intrinsically learned values (SIV).
  • This suggests that values learned through EDM and IDM are distinct.

Conclusions:

  • Externally learned values can influence preferences and are further modified by CIPC.
  • A distinction exists between values acquired through external guidance and those developed internally.
  • The findings are discussed in the context of the fundamental self-hypothesis, proposing different value systems for external and internal guidance.