Webber E S, Chambers N E, Kostek J A, Mankin D E, Cromwell H C
Department of Psychology and J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind and Behavior, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA.
Department of Psychology and J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind and Behavior, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA.
Behav Processes. 2015 Jul;116:87-99. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2015.05.003. Epub 2015 May 12.
Comparing different rewards automatically produces dynamic relative outcome effects on behavior. Each new outcome exposure is to an updated version evaluated relative to alternatives. Relative reward effects include incentive contrast, positive induction and variety effects. The present study utilized a novel behavioral design to examine relative reward effects on a chain of operant behavior using auditory cues. Incentive contrast is the most often examined effect and focuses on increases or decreases in behavioral performance after value upshifts (positive) or downshifts (negative) relative to another outcome. We examined the impact of comparing two reward outcomes in a repeated measures design with three sessions: a single outcome and a mixed outcome and a final single outcome session. Relative reward effects should be apparent when comparing trials for the identical outcome between the single and mixed session types. An auditory cue triggered a series of operant responses (nosepoke-leverpress-food retrieval), and we measured possible contrast effects for different reward magnitude combinations. We found positive contrast for trials with the greatest magnitude differential but positive induction or variety effects in other combinations. This behavioral task could be useful for analyzing environmental or neurobiological factors involved in reward comparisons, decision-making and choice during instrumental, goal-directed action.
比较不同的奖励会自动对行为产生动态相对结果效应。每次新的结果暴露都是相对于其他选项对一个更新版本的评估。相对奖励效应包括激励对比、正向诱导和多样化效应。本研究采用了一种新颖的行为设计，利用听觉线索来检验相对奖励对一系列操作性行为的影响。激励对比是最常被研究的效应，它关注相对于另一个结果，在价值上调（正向）或下调（负向）后行为表现的增加或减少。我们在一个重复测量设计的三个阶段中研究了比较两种奖励结果的影响：一个单一结果阶段、一个混合结果阶段和一个最终的单一结果阶段。当比较单一和混合阶段类型中相同结果的试验时，相对奖励效应应该是明显的。一个听觉线索引发了一系列操作性反应（鼻触-杠杆按压-食物获取），并且我们测量了不同奖励幅度组合可能产生的对比效应。我们发现，对于幅度差异最大的试验存在正向对比，但在其他组合中存在正向诱导或多样化效应。这个行为任务可能有助于分析在工具性、目标导向行为中涉及奖励比较、决策和选择的环境或神经生物学因素。
