TY - JOUR
T1 - A normative perspective on motivation
AU - Niv, Yael
AU - Joel, Daphna
AU - Dayan, Peter
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to Misha Ahrens, Bernard Balleine, Nathaniel Daw, Máté Lengyel, Ken Norman, Tom Schonberg, Ina Weiner and Louise Whiteley for helpful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript, and to Nathaniel Daw for much discussion and sharing of ideas. Our gratitude goes to Sharon Riwkes and Eran Katz who carried out some of the experiments on motivational control of habitual behavior. This research was funded by a Dan David fellowship and a Hebrew University Rector Fellowship to Y.N., and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.
PY - 2006/8
Y1 - 2006/8
N2 - Understanding the effects of motivation on instrumental action selection, and specifically on its two main forms, goal-directed and habitual control, is fundamental to the study of decision making. Motivational states have been shown to 'direct' goal-directed behavior rather straightforwardly towards more valuable outcomes. However, how motivational states can influence outcome-insensitive habitual behavior is more mysterious. We adopt a normative perspective, assuming that animals seek to maximize the utilities they achieve, and viewing motivation as a mapping from outcomes to utilities. We suggest that habitual action selection can direct responding properly only in motivational states which pertained during behavioral training. However, in novel states, we propose that outcome-independent, global effects of the utilities can 'energize' habitual actions.
AB - Understanding the effects of motivation on instrumental action selection, and specifically on its two main forms, goal-directed and habitual control, is fundamental to the study of decision making. Motivational states have been shown to 'direct' goal-directed behavior rather straightforwardly towards more valuable outcomes. However, how motivational states can influence outcome-insensitive habitual behavior is more mysterious. We adopt a normative perspective, assuming that animals seek to maximize the utilities they achieve, and viewing motivation as a mapping from outcomes to utilities. We suggest that habitual action selection can direct responding properly only in motivational states which pertained during behavioral training. However, in novel states, we propose that outcome-independent, global effects of the utilities can 'energize' habitual actions.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33746257297&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.tics.2006.06.010
DO - 10.1016/j.tics.2006.06.010
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.article???
AN - SCOPUS:33746257297
SN - 1364-6613
VL - 10
SP - 375
EP - 381
JO - Trends in Cognitive Sciences
JF - Trends in Cognitive Sciences
IS - 8
ER -