Contextual modulation of value signals in reward and punishment learning

Stefano Palminteri, Mehdi Khamassi (), Mateus Joffily () and Giorgio Coricelli ()
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Stefano Palminteri: Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience - UCL - University College of London [London], LNC2 - Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives & Computationnelles - DEC - Département d'Etudes Cognitives - ENS-PSL - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - INSERM - Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale
Mehdi Khamassi: AMAC - ISIR - Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique - UPMC - Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UNITN - Università degli Studi di Trento = University of Trento
Mateus Joffily: GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon - Saint-Etienne - ENS de Lyon - École normale supérieure de Lyon - Université de Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UNITN - Università degli Studi di Trento = University of Trento

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Abstract: 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.

Keywords: learning; reward; punishment; biological sciences; neuroscience (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01236045v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Published in Nature Communications, 2015, 6, pp.8096. ⟨10.1038/ncomms9096⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01236045

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9096

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