Dissociating time and number in reinforcement rate learning

Austen, J.; Pickering, C.; Sprengel, R.; Sanderson, D.

doi:10.1101/302372

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bioRxiv · 10.1101/302372

Dissociating time and number in reinforcement rate learning

Austen, J.·Pickering, C.·Sprengel, R.·Sanderson, D.

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Abstract

Animals are highly sensitive to the temporal properties of predictive cues 1, a feature of learning unexplained by traditional trial-based associative theories of learning 2-4. It has been proposed that animals symbolically encode temporal durations in order to extract statistical information about events, such as the reinforcement rate during a cues presentation 5,6. Thus, long-duration cues elicit weaker responding than short-duration cues ( cue duration effect), because they signal a lower rate of reinforcement 7,8. An alternative, simple account is that time-dependent changes in stimulus processing, such as short-term habituation, lead to the effect of cue duration on learning 9,10, with attention decreasing throughout the duration of a cue, limitin ...

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Austen, J., Pickering, C., Sprengel, R., Sanderson, D.. 2018-04-17. Dissociating time and number in reinforcement rate learning. https://doi.org/10.1101/302372

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