General Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer in humans: Evidence from Bayesian inference
When repeatedly paired with rewarding outcomes (i.e., Pavlovian conditioning), environmental cues may acquire predictive and motivational significance and later enhance instrumental responding for the same (i.e., outcome-specific transfer) or motivationally similar (i.e., general transfer) outcomes....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2022.945503/full |
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| author | Luigi A. E. Degni Daniela Dalbagno Francesca Starita Mariagrazia Benassi Giuseppe di Pellegrino Sara Garofalo Sara Garofalo |
| author_facet | Luigi A. E. Degni Daniela Dalbagno Francesca Starita Mariagrazia Benassi Giuseppe di Pellegrino Sara Garofalo Sara Garofalo |
| author_sort | Luigi A. E. Degni |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | When repeatedly paired with rewarding outcomes (i.e., Pavlovian conditioning), environmental cues may acquire predictive and motivational significance and later enhance instrumental responding for the same (i.e., outcome-specific transfer) or motivationally similar (i.e., general transfer) outcomes. Although outcome-specific and general Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer (PIT) are characterized by different neural substrates and behavioral mechanisms, general transfer has never been studied in isolation from outcome-specific transfer in humans. The first aim of the present study was to test whether the general transfer effect could emerge in isolation and independently of outcome-specific transfer. Our results showed that general transfer can be elicited without the concurrent presence of outcome-specific transfer, supporting the idea that outcome-specific and general transfer can be studied independently of each other. The second aim of the present study was to clarify whether the affordance-like properties of the outcomes can affect the general transfer. In fact, a critical difference in current studies on general transfer concerns the use of cues associated with outcomes for which an action was previously learned (or not) during the instrumental training. This apparently minor difference affects the affordance-like properties of the outcome and may also be transferred to the cue, in turn impacting general transfer. Results revealed a general transfer of the same magnitude regardless of whether cues were associated with reward earned or not during instrumental conditioning. These findings increase the current knowledge on the incentive motivational mechanism behind general transfer, indicating that it is independent of the motor features of the outcome. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T06:18:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c89b56725d08453183c3b8054121be4e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5153 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T06:18:39Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-c89b56725d08453183c3b8054121be4e2022-12-22T03:44:25ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience1662-51532022-08-011610.3389/fnbeh.2022.945503945503General Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer in humans: Evidence from Bayesian inferenceLuigi A. E. Degni0Daniela Dalbagno1Francesca Starita2Mariagrazia Benassi3Giuseppe di Pellegrino4Sara Garofalo5Sara Garofalo6Center for studies and research in Cognitive Neuroscience (CsrNC), Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, ItalyCenter for studies and research in Cognitive Neuroscience (CsrNC), Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, ItalyCenter for studies and research in Cognitive Neuroscience (CsrNC), Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, ItalyPsychometrics and Neuropsychology Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, ItalyCenter for studies and research in Cognitive Neuroscience (CsrNC), Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, ItalyCenter for studies and research in Cognitive Neuroscience (CsrNC), Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, ItalyPsychometrics and Neuropsychology Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, ItalyWhen repeatedly paired with rewarding outcomes (i.e., Pavlovian conditioning), environmental cues may acquire predictive and motivational significance and later enhance instrumental responding for the same (i.e., outcome-specific transfer) or motivationally similar (i.e., general transfer) outcomes. Although outcome-specific and general Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer (PIT) are characterized by different neural substrates and behavioral mechanisms, general transfer has never been studied in isolation from outcome-specific transfer in humans. The first aim of the present study was to test whether the general transfer effect could emerge in isolation and independently of outcome-specific transfer. Our results showed that general transfer can be elicited without the concurrent presence of outcome-specific transfer, supporting the idea that outcome-specific and general transfer can be studied independently of each other. The second aim of the present study was to clarify whether the affordance-like properties of the outcomes can affect the general transfer. In fact, a critical difference in current studies on general transfer concerns the use of cues associated with outcomes for which an action was previously learned (or not) during the instrumental training. This apparently minor difference affects the affordance-like properties of the outcome and may also be transferred to the cue, in turn impacting general transfer. Results revealed a general transfer of the same magnitude regardless of whether cues were associated with reward earned or not during instrumental conditioning. These findings increase the current knowledge on the incentive motivational mechanism behind general transfer, indicating that it is independent of the motor features of the outcome.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2022.945503/fullgeneral Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfercue-guided choicesBayesian statistics in neurosciencemotivationdecision-making |
| spellingShingle | Luigi A. E. Degni Daniela Dalbagno Francesca Starita Mariagrazia Benassi Giuseppe di Pellegrino Sara Garofalo Sara Garofalo General Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer in humans: Evidence from Bayesian inference Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience general Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer cue-guided choices Bayesian statistics in neuroscience motivation decision-making |
| title | General Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer in humans: Evidence from Bayesian inference |
| title_full | General Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer in humans: Evidence from Bayesian inference |
| title_fullStr | General Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer in humans: Evidence from Bayesian inference |
| title_full_unstemmed | General Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer in humans: Evidence from Bayesian inference |
| title_short | General Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer in humans: Evidence from Bayesian inference |
| title_sort | general pavlovian to instrumental transfer in humans evidence from bayesian inference |
| topic | general Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer cue-guided choices Bayesian statistics in neuroscience motivation decision-making |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2022.945503/full |
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