Some Factors that Restore Goal-Direction to a Habitual Behavior.

Some Factors that Restore Goal-Direction to a Habitual Behavior. Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2020 Jan 09;:107161 Authors: Trask S, Shipman ML, Green JT, Bouton ME Abstract Recent findings from our laboratory suggest that an extensively-practiced instrumental behavior can appear to be a goal-directed action (rather than a habit) when a second behavior is added and reinforced during intermixed final sessions (Shipman, Trask, Bouton, & Green, 2018). The present experiments were designed to explore and understand this finding. All used the taste aversion method of devaluing the reinforcer to distinguish between goal-directed actions and habits. Experiment 1 confirmed that reinforcing a second response in a separate context (but not mere exposure to that context) can return an extensively-trained habit to the status of goal-directed action. Experiment 2 showed that training of the second response needs to be intermixed with training of the first response to produce this effect; training the second response after the first-response training was complete preserved the first response as a habit. Experiment 3 demonstrated that reinforcing the second response with a different reinforcer breaks the habit status of the first response. Experiment 4 found that free reinforcers (that were not response-contingent) were sufficient to restore goal-directed performance. Together, the results suggest that unexpected reinforcer delivery can render a habitua...
Source: Neurobiology of Learning and Memory - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Neurobiol Learn Mem Source Type: research