The misbehavior of value and the discipline of the will

• Published in: Neural networks Vol. 19; no. 8; pp. 1153 - 1160
• Main Authors: Dayan, Peter, Niv, Yael, Seymour, Ben, D. Daw, Nathaniel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2006
• Subjects: Animals; Association Learning; Autoshaping; Avoidance Learning; Classical conditioning; Conditioning, Classical - physiology; Conditioning, Operant - physiology; Humans; Instrumental conditioning; Negative automaintenance; Reinforcement (Psychology); Reinforcement learning; Reinforcement Schedule; Time Factors; Will; Negative automaintenance; Instrumental conditioning; Autoshaping; Will; Classical conditioning; Reinforcement learning
• ISSN: 0893-6080; 1879-2782
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neunet.2006.03.002

Most reinforcement learning models of animal conditioning operate under the convenient, though fictive, assumption that Pavlovian conditioning concerns prediction learning whereas instrumental conditioning concerns action learning. However, it is only through Pavlovian responses that Pavlovian prediction learning is evident, and these responses can act against the instrumental interests of the subjects. This can be seen in both experimental and natural circumstances. In this paper we study the consequences of importing this competition into a reinforcement learning context, and demonstrate the resulting effects in an omission schedule and a maze navigation task. The misbehavior created by Pavlovian values can be quite debilitating; we discuss how it may be disciplined.