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Neural signatures of arbitration between Pavlovian and instrumental action selection.

ABSTRACT: Pavlovian associations drive approach towards reward-predictive cues, and avoidance of punishment-predictive cues. These associations "misbehave" when they conflict with correct instrumental behavior. This raises the question of how Pavlovian and instrumental influences on behavior are arbitrated. We test a computational theory according to which Pavlovian influence will be stronger when inferred controllability of outcomes is low. Using a model-based analysis of a Go/NoGo task with human subjects, we show that theta-band oscillatory power in frontal cortex tracks inferred controllability, and that these inferences predict Pavlovian action biases. Functional MRI data revealed an inferior frontal gyrus correlate of action probability and a ventromedial prefrontal correlate of outcome valence, both of which were modulated by inferred controllability.

SUBMITTER: Gershman SJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7901778 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Neural signatures of arbitration between Pavlovian and instrumental action selection.

Gershman Samuel J SJ Guitart-Masip Marc M Cavanagh James F JF

PLoS computational biology 20210210 2

Pavlovian associations drive approach towards reward-predictive cues, and avoidance of punishment-predictive cues. These associations "misbehave" when they conflict with correct instrumental behavior. This raises the question of how Pavlovian and instrumental influences on behavior are arbitrated. We test a computational theory according to which Pavlovian influence will be stronger when inferred controllability of outcomes is low. Using a model-based analysis of a Go/NoGo task with human subjec ...[more]

PMID: 33566831

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Project description:Threat conditioning is a common associative learning model with translational relevance. How threat-conditioned cues impact on formally unrelated instrumental behavior in humans is not well known. Such an effect is known as Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT). While PIT with aversive primary Pavlovian reinforcers is established in nonhuman animals, this is less clear in humans, where secondary reinforcers or instructed instrumental responses are most often investigated. We modified an existing human PIT procedure to include primary reinforcers. Participants first learned to obtain (or avoid losing) appetitive instrumental reinforcement (chocolate) by appropriate approach or avoidance actions. They either had to act (Go) or to withhold an action (NoGo), and in the Go condition either to approach a reward target to collect it or to withdraw from the reward target to avoid losing it. Then they learned to associate screen color (CS) with aversive Pavlovian reinforcement (electric shock US). In the transfer phase, we conducted the instrumental task during the presence of Pavlovian CS. In a first experiment, we show that the aversive Pavlovian CS+, compared to CS-, increased response rate in Go-Withdraw trials, i.e., induce conditioned facilitation of avoidance responses. This finding was confirmed in a second and independent experiment with an increased number of Go-Withdraw trials. Notably, we observed no appreciable conditioned suppression of approach responses. Effect size to distinguish CS+/CS- in Go-Withdraw trials was d = 0.42 in the confirmation sample. This would require n = 37 participants to demonstrate threat learning with 80% power. Thus, the effect size is on a practically useful scale although smaller than for model-based analysis of autonomic measures. In summary, our results indicate conditioned facilitation of formally unrelated instrumental avoidance behavior in humans and provide a novel behavioral threat learning measure that requires only key presses.

Project description:In animals and humans, behavior can be influenced by irrelevant stimuli, a phenomenon called Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT). In subjects with substance use disorder, PIT is even enhanced with functional activation in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and amygdala. While we observed enhanced behavioral and neural PIT effects in alcohol-dependent subjects, we here aimed to determine whether behavioral PIT is enhanced in young men with high-risk compared to low-risk drinking and subsequently related functional activation in an a-priori region of interest encompassing the NAcc and amygdala and related to polygenic risk for alcohol consumption. A representative sample of 18-year old men (n = 1937) was contacted: 445 were screened, 209 assessed: resulting in 191 valid behavioral, 139 imaging and 157 genetic datasets. None of the subjects fulfilled criteria for alcohol dependence according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV-TextRevision (DSM-IV-TR). We measured how instrumental responding for rewards was influenced by background Pavlovian conditioned stimuli predicting action-independent rewards and losses. Behavioral PIT was enhanced in high-compared to low-risk drinkers (b = 0.09, SE = 0.03, z = 2.7, p < 0.009). Across all subjects, we observed PIT-related neural blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal in the right amygdala (t = 3.25, pSVC = 0.04, x = 26, y = -6, z = -12), but not in NAcc. The strength of the behavioral PIT effect was positively correlated with polygenic risk for alcohol consumption (rs = 0.17, p = 0.032). We conclude that behavioral PIT and polygenic risk for alcohol consumption might be a biomarker for a subclinical phenotype of risky alcohol consumption, even if no drug-related stimulus is present. The association between behavioral PIT effects and the amygdala might point to habitual processes related to out PIT task. In non-dependent young social drinkers, the amygdala rather than the NAcc is activated during PIT; possible different involvement in association with disease trajectory should be investigated in future studies.

Dataset Information

Neural signatures of arbitration between Pavlovian and instrumental action selection.

Publications

Neural signatures of arbitration between Pavlovian and instrumental action selection.

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