Reward based learning

Computational modeling and brain imaging studies suggest that sensitivity to rewards and behaviorist learning principles partly explain smartphone engagement patterns and potentially smartphone dependence. Responses to a questionnaire, and observational measures of smartphone use were recorded for 121 university students. Each participant was also tested with a laboratory task of reward sensitivity and a test of verbal operant conditioning. Twenty-three percent of the sample had probable smartphone addiction. Using multivariate regression, smartphone use, particularly the number of instant messenger services employed, was shown to be significantly and independently predicted by reward sensitivity (a positive relationship), and by instrumental conditioning (a negative relationship). However, the latter association was driven by a subset of participants who developed declarative knowledge of the response-reinforcer contingency. This suggests a process of impression management driven by experimental demand characteristics, producing goal-directed instrumental behavior not habit-based learning. No other measures of smartphone use, including the self-report scale, were significantly associated with the experimental tasks. We conclude that stronger engagement with smartphones, in particular instant messenger services, may be linked to people being more sensitive to rewarding stimuli, suggestive of a motivational or learning mechanism. We propose that this mechanism could underly problem smartphone use and dependence. It also potentially explains why some aspects of smartphone use, such as habitual actions, appear to be poorly measured by technology-use questionnaires. A serendipitous secondary finding confirmed that smartphone use reflected active self-presentation. Our ‘conditioning’ task-induced this behavior in the laboratory and could be used in social-cognition experimental studies.

Research has shown that the brain is constantly making predictions about future events. Theories of prediction in perception, action and learning suggest that the brain serves to reduce the discrepancies between expectation and actual experience, i.e., by reducing the prediction error. Forward models of action and perception propose the generation of a predictive internal representation of the expected sensory outcome, which is matched to the actual sensory feedback. Shared neural representations have been found when experiencing one's own and observing other's actions, rewards, errors, and emotions such as fear and pain. These general principles of the "predictive brain" are well established and have already begun to be applied to social aspects of cognition. The application and relevance of these predictive principles to social cognition are discussed in this article. Evidence is presented to argue that simple non-social cognitive processes can be extended to explain complex cognitive processes required for social interaction, with common neural activity seen for both social and non-social cognitions. A number of studies are included which demonstrate that bottom-up sensory input and top-down expectancies can be modulated by social information. The concept of competing social forward models and a partially distinct category of social prediction errors are introduced. The evolutionary implications of a "social predictive brain" are also mentioned, along with the implications on psychopathology. The review presents a number of testable hypotheses and novel comparisons that aim to stimulate further discussion and integration between currently disparate fields of research, with regard to computational models, behavioral and neurophysiological data. This promotes a relatively new platform for inquiry in social neuroscience with implications in social learning, theory of mind, empathy, the evolution of the social brain, and potential strategies for treating social cognitive deficits.

La tesis propone un estudio exploratorio, descriptivo y cuasi-experimental sobre el efecto del estímulo musical en la activación de la conducta.
A partir del estado del arte, se plantea que la música de tiempo rápido, beats marcados y síncopa podría activar circuitos del sistema motivacional que se encuentran en déficit en la anhedonia motivacional, aumentando la saliencia de estímulos del medio ambiente. En este punto la tesis desarrolla un primer objetivo que consiste en evaluar el desempeño en un test de atención (d2) antes y después del estímulo musical en un grupo de depresivos y un grupo de eutímicos.
Un segundo objetivo consiste en la actualización de los tratamientos basados en evidencia para la depresión con síntomas de anhedonia o déficit en el procesamiento de la recompensa.
El desarrollo del marco teórico incluye por una parte conocimiento relativo a los circuitos y neurotransmisores que participan en el procesamiento de recompensa, las diferencias entre anhedonia motivacional y consumatoria, los perfiles neuropsicológicos de las personas con depresión y anhedonia, el concepto de saliencia de incentivo, el sistema de predicción del error y reactividad ambiental. Por otra parte, se presenta conocimiento asociados al estímulo (musical) y circuitos implicados en su procesamiento.
Se plantea las limitaciones del estudio, y se presenta como datos de relevancia el impacto del estímulo musical en la cantidad de trabajo realizado, la concentración y el equilibrio entre velocidad y precisión. El total de respuestas, se observa más sostenido en eutímicos y más amplio y fluctuante en los depresivos. mientras que el impacto en CON sugiere un efecto positivo en depresivos a diferencia de eutímicos quienes aumentan los errores por comisión.

ABSTRACT: This chapter argues that appeals to actual scientific practice show that higher-level psychological explanations are not precluded by reductive explanation, much less rendered extinct. To exemplify this conclusion, the case of mesocorticolimbic dopamine is discussed at length.