Pavlovian-Instrumental Interaction in 'Observing Behavior'
Abstract: Author Summary The theory of Reinforcement Learning (RL) has been influential in explaining basic learning and behavior in humans and other animals, and in accounting for key features of the activity of dopamine neurons. However, perhaps due to this very success, paradigms that challenge RL are at a premium. One case concerns so-called ‘observing behavior’, in which, at least in some versions, animals elect to observe cues that are predictive of future rewarding outcomes, although the observations themselves have no direct behavioral relevance. In a recent experiment on observing, the activity of monkey dopaminergic neurons was also found to be incompatible with classic RL. However, as is often the case, this was a task that allowed for potential interactions from a secondary behavioral system in which responses are directly triggered by values. In this paper we show that a model incorporating a next order of refinement associated with such Pavlovian interactions can explain this type of observing behavior.
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