Renewal of goal direction with a context change after habit learning.
Open accessAbstract
An instrumental action can be goal-directed after a moderate amount of practice and then convert to habit after more extensive practice. Recent evidence suggests, however, that habits can return to action status after different environmental manipulations. The present experiments therefore asked whether habit learning interferes with goal direction in a context-dependent manner like other types of retroactive interference (e.g., extinction, punishment, counterconditioning). In Experiment 1, rats were given a moderate amount of instrumental training to form an action in one context (Context A) and then more extended training of the same response to form a habit in another context (Context B). We then performed reinforcer devaluation with taste aversion conditioning in both contexts, and tested the response in both contexts. The response remained habitual in Context B, but was goal-directed in Context A, indicating renewal of goal direction after habit learning. Experiment 2 expanded on Experiment 1 by testing the response in a third context (Context C). It found that the habitual response also renewed as action in this context. Together, the results establish a parallel between habit and extinction learning: Conversion to habit does not destroy action knowledge, but interferes with it in a context-specific way. They are also consistent with other results suggesting that habit is specific to the context in which it is learned, whereas goal-direction can transfer between contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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In another Steinfeld and Bouton (2021) experiment, after action training in Context A and conversion to habit in Context B, with reinforcer devaluation in all three contexts before test, the response retained habit properties in Context B but was expressed as an action in Context C.
“Here the response retained its habit properties in B, but expressed as an action in Context C.”
From Context, attention, and the switch between habit and goal-direction in behavior (2021) · cites this paper as Steinfeld & Bouton, 2021
In Steinfeld and Bouton's (2021) experiment, after modest lever-press training in Context A and extended training in Context B, reinforcer devaluation in both contexts showed that lever pressing remained a habit in Context B but switched to action in Context A.
“When the reinforcer was devalued in both contexts, tests demonstrated that lever pressing was still a habit in Context B, but switched to action when tested in Context A (the original action context) (see Fig. 4).”
From Context, attention, and the switch between habit and goal-direction in behavior (2021) · cites this paper as Steinfeld & Bouton, 2021
In ABC renewal experiments, regardless of whether the behavior had been trained as an action or habit in Context A, it renewed as an action in Context C.
“Remarkably, regardless of whether the behavior had been trained as an action or habit in Context A, it renewed as an action in Context C.”
From Context, attention, and the switch between habit and goal-direction in behavior (2021) · cites this paper as Steinfeld & Bouton, 2021
On the attention-modulation account, the switch back to R-O after unexpected reinforcers or context change would be created by merely increasing attention to R and the consequent associative retrieval of O.
“On this account, the switch back to R-O after unexpected reinforcers or context change (Bouton et al., 2020; Steinfeld & Bouton, 2021; Trask et al., 2020) would be created by merely increasing attention to R (and the consequent associative retrieval of O).”
From Context, attention, and the switch between habit and goal-direction in behavior (2021) · cites this paper as Steinfeld & Bouton, 2021
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- Authors
- Steinfeld, M. R., & Bouton, M. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Vermont (US)
- Venue
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Published
- 2021-02
- Volume
- 135
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 79-87
- ISSN
- 0735-7044 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-0084
- PMC
- PMC8049955
- OpenAlex
- W3094731038
- Cited by
- 34
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 2.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Behavioral Neuroscience (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (RO1 DA 033123)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Keywords
- goal-directed behavior, habit learning, context-dependent learning, reinforcer devaluation, conditioned taste aversion, extinction, operant conditioning, rats, action knowledge, context specificity
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Extinction, Psychological, Female, Goals, Habits, Learning, Motivation, Rats
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