Dual-system free-operant avoidance: extension of a theory

Abstract

Rewarded behavior is controlled by 2 systems during free-operant training. One system is sensitive to the correlation between response and reinforcement rate and controls goal-directed behavior, whereas a habitual system learns by reward prediction error. We present an extension of this theory to the aversive domain which explains why free-operant avoidance responding increases with both the experienced rate of the negative reinforcer and the decrease in this rate produced by responding. The theory also assumes that the habitual component is reinforced by the acquisition of aversive inhibitory properties by the feedback stimuli generated by responding, which then act as safety signals that reinforce habit performance. Our results show that the same distinction of habitual and goal-directed control of rewarded behavior can be applied to the aversive domain.

Safety signals reinforce instrumental avoidance in humans

“…Thus, the reciprocity between appetitive and aversive systems, which has been demonstrated with Pavlovian procedures (Dickinson & Dearing, 1979) is here substantiated with instrumental avoidance responses in humans. A recent computational instantiation of a dual-process theory of instrumental behaviour assumes that instrumental behaviour is controlled by a goal-directed component and a habitual component (Perez & Dickinson, 2023). According to this account, safety signals reinforce the habitual component of avoidance behaviour by strengthening the connection between environmental stimuli and avoidance responses, as has been observed in experiments in rodents (Fernando et al, 2014).…”