Instrumental behavior in humans is sensitive to the correlation between response rate and reward rate

Recent theories of instrumental behavior postulate that the correlation between response and reward rate is a critical factor in instrumental goal-directed performance. However, it is still not clear whether human actions can be sensitive to rate correlation. Using a novel within-subject design, par...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPsychonomic bulletin & review Vol. 28; no. 2; pp. 649 - 656
Main Author Perez, Omar D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Springer US 01.04.2021
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Brief Report
Cognitive Psychology
Experiments
Human influences
Hypotheses
Probability
Psychology
Response rates
Schedules
Goal-directed
Free-operant
Instrumental conditioning
habits
Reinforcement learning
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Summary:Recent theories of instrumental behavior postulate that the correlation between response and reward rate is a critical factor in instrumental goal-directed performance. However, it is still not clear whether human actions can be sensitive to rate correlation. Using a novel within-subject design, participants were trained under ratio and interval contingencies of reinforcement matching both reward probabilities and reward rates between conditions. The impact of rate correlation on performance was evident in the higher performance observed under ratio contingencies for both types of matching. Moreover, there was no difference in performance between two classes of interval schedules with equivalent correlational properties but different reward probabilities. These results are discussed in terms of a recent dual-system model of instrumental behavior.
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ISSN:1069-9384
1531-5320
1531-5320
DOI:10.3758/s13423-020-01830-8