Demonstrating and disrupting well-learned habits

Abstract

23Researchers have exerted tremendous efforts to empirically study how habits form and dominate 24 at the expense of deliberation, yet we know very little about breaking these rigid habits to restore 25 goal-directed control. In a three-experiment study, we first illustrate a novel approach of 26 studying well-learned habits, in order to effectively demonstrate habit disruption. In Experiment 27 1, we use a Go/NoGo task with familiar color-response associations to demonstrate outcome-28 insensitivity when compared to novel, more flexible associations. Specifically, subjects perform 29 more accurately when the required mapping is the familiar association of green-Go/red-NoGo 30 than when it is red-Go/green-NoGo, confirming outcome-insensitive, habitual control. As a 31 control condition, subjects show equivalent performance with unfamiliar color-response 32 mappings (using the colors blue and purple mapped to Go and NoGo responses). Next, in 33 Experiments 2 and 3, we test a motivation-based feedback manipulation in varying magnitudes 34 (i.e., performance feedback with and without monetary incentives) to break the well-established 35 habits elicited by our familiar stimuli. We find that although performance feedback prior to the 36 contingency reversal test is insufficient to disrupt outcome-insensitivity in Experiment 2, a 37 combination of performance feedback and monetary incentive is able to restore goal-directed 38 control in Experiment 3, effectively breaking the habits. As the first successful demonstration of 39 well-learned habit disruption in the laboratory, these findings provide new insights into how we 40 execute and modify habits, while fostering new and translational research avenues that may be 41 applicable to treating habit-based pathologies. 42 43 44 45 Providing opportunities for performance tracking and administering other forms of 131 performance-based feedback (e.g., primary and secondary rewards) have been used extensively 132 in enhancing behavioral output [22,23]. For instance, the delivery of performance tracking 133 information combined with a monetary reward successfully improved performance on a visual 134 task [23]. A combination of primary and secondary rewards (e.g., juice and monetary incentives) 135 has also been documented to improve goal-directed performance on a cued task-switching 136 paradigm via motivational enhancement [24]. The promise of a future reward contingent on 137

Habit Expression and Disruption as a Function of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptomology

“…Specifically, we reason that amplifying the salience of the outcomes of one’s behaviors with feedback (e.g., tying task performance to monetary incentives and performance tracking) may reactivate goal-representations in otherwise stimulus-driven associations. In support of this hypothesis, we have previously demonstrated the beneficial effects of feedback on the motivational control of action (Ceceli et al, 2019).…”

“…Participants performed Go/NoGo tasks adapted from Ceceli et al (2019) over 2 days. On day one, all participants underwent Go/NoGo tasks with familiar green and red traffic light stimuli (Familiar condition), and novel blue and purple traffic light stimuli (Novel condition) as Go and NoGo signals.…”

“…These hallmark symptoms are often accompanied by executive control irregularities, such as diminished inhibitory control and excessive distractibility that interfere with daily functioning (Willcutt et al, 2005). Additionally, behavioral and neurobiological reports have highlighted reward-related abnormalities in ADHD, in that individuals with ADHD display impairments in learning from, interacting with, and processing rewards (Ceceli et al, 2019). Children and adults with ADHD present heightened delay aversion, such that they choose immediate, less valuable rewards over delayed yet larger rewards (Sonuga-Barke et al, 1992; Kessler et al, 2005b; Antrop et al, 2006; Marx et al, 2013).…”

“…A meaningful assessment of habit expression and disruption may require access to rigid habits with a strong association between the triggering stimulus and the behavioral response. Therefore, instead of relying on labile, newly learned habits that have been the subject of inquiry in most investigations of motivational control (Ceceli and Tricomi, 2018), it may be more effective to study habit expression and disruption via well-learned, existing S–R associations that do not require extensive training in the laboratory (Ceceli et al, 2019).…”

“…To this end, we developed a Go/NoGo task that capitalizes on familiar green and red traffic light stimuli that activate existing stimulus–response associations (Ceceli et al, 2019). If green-Go and red-NoGo associations are habit-driven, an incongruent Go/NoGo mapping (green-NoGo, red-Go) should produce significant decrements in accuracy.…”