Compared with reward seeking, punishment avoidance learning is less clearly understood at both the computational and neurobiological levels. Here we demonstrate, using computational modelling and fMRI in humans, that learning option values in a relative--context-dependent--scale offers a simple computational solution for avoidance learning. The context (or state) value sets the reference point to which an outcome should be compared before updating the option value. Consequently, in contexts with an overall negative expected value, successful punishment avoidance acquires a positive value, thus reinforcing the response. As revealed by post-learning assessment of options values, contextual influences are enhanced when subjects are informed about the result of the forgone alternative (counterfactual information). This is mirrored at the neural level by a shift in negative outcome encoding from the anterior insula to the ventral striatum, suggesting that value contextualization also limits the need to mobilize an opponent punishment learning system.

Contextual modulation of value signals in reward and punishment learning

Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie des Kindes- und Jugendalters

Insight with Stumpers: Normative Solution Data for 25 Stumpers and a Fresh Perspective on the Accuracy Effect

Dopaminergic neurotransmission plays a pivotal role in appetitively motivated behavior in mammals, including humans. Notably, action and valence are not independent in motivated tasks, and it is particularly difficult for humans to learn the inhibition of an action to obtain a reward. We have previously observed that the carriers of the DRD2/ANKK1 TaqIA A1 allele, that has been associated with reduced striatal dopamine D2 receptor expression, showed a diminished learning performance when required to learn response inhibition to obtain rewards, a finding that was replicated in two independent cohorts. In the present study, we first report a replication of this finding in a third independent cohort of 99 participants. Interestingly, after combining all three cohorts (total N = 281), exploratory analyses regarding the COMT Val108/158Met polymorphism suggest that homozygotes for the Met allele, which has been linked to higher prefrontal dopaminergic tone, show a lower learning bias. Our results corroborate the importance of genetic variability of the dopaminergic system in individual learning differences of action-valence interaction and, furthermore, suggest that motivational learning biases are differentially modulated by genetic determinants of striatal and prefrontal dopamine function.

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Motivational learning biases are differentially modulated by genetic determinants of striatal and prefrontal dopamine function

Target value and prevalence influence visual foraging in younger and older age

Learning in anticipation of reward and punishment: perspectives across the human lifespan.

There are diverging operationalizations of insight in experimental research, especially when comparing behavioral and neuroimaging research. The question arises how comparable these types of insigh...

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/20445911.2021.1912049

Insight is not always the same: differences between true, false, and induced insights in the matchstick arithmetic task

Pavlovian biases influence the interaction between action and valence by coupling reward seeking to action invigoration and punishment avoidance to action suppression. In this study we used an orthogonalised go/no-go task to investigate learning in 247 individuals across the human lifespan (7-80 years) to demonstrate that all participants, independently of age, demonstrated an influence of Pavlovian control. Computational modeling revealed peak performance in young adults was attributable to greater sensitivity to both rewards and punishment. However in children and adolescents an increased bias towards action but not reward sensitivity was observed. In contrast, reduced learning in midlife and older adults was accompanied with decreased reward sensitivity and especially punishment sensitivity. These findings reveal distinct learning capabilities across the human lifespan that cannot be probed using conventional go/reward no-go/punishment style paradigms that have important implications in life-long education.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2019/08/20/738211.full.pdf

Björn H. Schott

Papers

Learning in anticipation of reward and punishment: perspectives across the human lifespan.

Insight is not always the same: differences between true, false, and induced insights in the matchstick arithmetic task

Learning in anticipation of reward and punishment: Perspectives across the human lifespan