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PubMed1993

Effects of income on drug choice in humans.

The effects of income (money available to spend during the experimental session) on human choice were examined in a concurrent-schedule arrangement. Subjects were 7 nicotine-dependent smokers, and reinforcers were puffs on the subject's usual brand of cigarette ("own") and puffs on a less preferred brand of cigarette with equal nicotine content ("other"). Across sessions, income varied and the price of the two reinforcers was held constant, with the other puffs one fifth the price of the own puffs. As income increased, consumption of own puffs increased while consumption of the less expensive other puffs decreased. These effects of income on choice were highly consistent across subjects. For some subjects, however, income had little effect on total puff consumption. Finally, an additional condition examined whether price and income manipulations would have functionally equivalent effects on choice by repeating an income condition in which the price of the other brand was increased. Although the increased price of the other puffs decreased their consumption in 4 subjects, 2 subjects showed increased consumption of the other puffs at the higher price. The results, when defined in economic terms, indicate that the own puffs were a normal good (consumption and income are directly related), the other puffs were an inferior good (consumption and income are inversely related), and the direct relationship between consumption of the other puffs and their price is defined as a Giffengood effect. The latter result also suggests that for these 2 subjects, price and income manipulations had equivalent effects on choice. These results extend findings from previous studies that have examined the effects of income on choice responding to human subjects and drug reinforcers, and provide a framework for further experimental tests of the effects of income on human choice behavior. Methodological and theoretical implications for the study of choice and for behavioral pharmacology are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Concurrent schedules of wheel-running reinforcement: choice between different durations of opportunity to run in rats.

How do animals choose between opportunities to run of different durations? Are longer durations preferred over shorter durations because they permit a greater number of revolutions? Are shorter durations preferred because they engender higher rates of running? Will longer durations be chosen because running is less constrained? The present study reports on three experiments that attempted to address these questions. In the first experiment, five male Wistar rats chose between 10-sec and 50-sec opportunities to run on modified concurrent variable-interval (VI) schedules. Across conditions, the durations associated with the alternatives were reversed. Response, time, and reinforcer proportions did not vary from indifference. In a second experiment, eight female Long-Evans rats chose between opportunities to run of equal (30 sec) and unequal durations (10 sec and 50 sec) on concurrent variable-ratio (VR) schedules. As in Experiment 1, between presentations of equal duration conditions, 10-sec and 50-sec durations were reversed. Results showed that response, time, and reinforcer proportions on an alternative did not vary with reinforcer duration. In a third experiment, using concurrent VR schedules, durations were systematically varied to decrease the shorter duration toward 0 sec. As the shorter duration decreased, response, time, and reinforcer proportions shifted toward the longer duration. In summary, differences in durations of opportunities to run did not affect choice behavior in a manner consistent with the assumption that a longer reinforcer is a larger reinforcer.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Motivated decision making: effects of activation and self-centrality of values on choices and behavior.

Six studies examined the value-behavior relation and focused on motivational properties of values, the self, and value activation. Priming environmental values enhanced attention to and the weight of information related to those values, which resulted in environmentally friendly consumer choices. This only occurred if these values were central to the self-concept. Value-congruent choices were also found in response to countervalue behavior in an unrelated context. Donating behavior congruent with central altruistic values was found as a result of enhanced self-focus, thus demonstrating the importance of the self in the value-behavior relation. The external validity of the value-centrality measure and its distinction from attitudes were demonstrated in the prediction of voting. Values were thus found to give meaning to, energize, and regulate value-congruent behavior, but only if values were cognitively activated and central to the self.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed2005

On adaptation, maximization, and reinforcement learning among cognitive strategies.

Analysis of binary choice behavior in iterated tasks with immediate feedback reveals robust deviations from maximization that can be described as indications of 3 effects: (a) a payoff variability effect, in which high payoff variability seems to move choice behavior toward random choice; (b) underweighting of rare events, in which alternatives that yield the best payoffs most of the time are attractive even when they are associated with a lower expected return; and (c) loss aversion, in which alternatives that minimize the probability of losses can be more attractive than those that maximize expected payoffs. The results are closer to probability matching than to maximization. Best approximation is provided with a model of reinforcement learning among cognitive strategies (RELACS). This model captures the 3 deviations, the learning curves, and the effect of information on uncertainty avoidance. It outperforms other models in fitting the data and in predicting behavior in other experiments.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2005

Neural correlates of knowledge: stable representation of stimulus associations across variations in behavioral performance.

Behavioral responses to a sensory stimulus are often guided by associative memories. These associations remain intact even when other factors determine behavior. The substrates of associative memory should therefore be identifiable by neuronal responses that are independent of behavioral choices. We tested this hypothesis using a paired-associates task in which monkeys learned arbitrary associations between pairs of visual stimuli. We examined the activity of neurons in inferior temporal cortex as the animals prepared to choose a remembered stimulus from a visual display. The activity of some neurons (22%) depended on the monkey's behavioral choice; but for a novel class of neurons (54%), activity reflected the stimulus that the monkey was instructed to choose, regardless of the behavioral response. These neurons appear to represent memorized stimulus associations that are stable across variations in behavioral performance. In addition, many neurons (74%) were modulated by the spatial arrangement of the stimuli in the display.

Action Potentials↗
PubMed1998

Response allocation to concurrent fixed-ratio reinforcement schedules with work requirements by adults with mental retardation and typical preschool children.

The present experiments examined the effect of work requirements in combination with reinforcement schedule on the choice behavior of adults with mental retardation and preschool children. The work requirements of age-appropriate tasks (i.e., sorting silverware, jumping hurdles, tossing beanbags) were manipulated. Participants were presented with their choice of two response options for each trial that varied simultaneously on both work requirement and reinforcement schedule. Results showed that when responding to both choices occurred on the same reinforcement schedule, participants allocated most of their responses to the option with the easier work requirement. When the response option requiring less work was on a leaner reinforcement schedule, most participants shifted their choice to exert more work. There were individual differences across participants regarding their pattern of responding and when they switched from the lesser to the greater work requirement. Data showed that participants' responding was largely controlled by the reinforcement received for responding to each level of work. Various conceptualizations regarding the effects of work requirements on choice behavior are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of zinc deficiency on lead toxicity in rats.

The effect of zinc deficiency on the toxicity of dietary lead in rats, as measured by body weight changes, tissue lead retention, and choice behavior in a complex maze was studied. Weanling rats were fed a zinc-free semipurified diet which was supplemented via drinking solutions with either 2 or 20 ppm zinc and 0, 10, or 100 ppm lead. During exposure, choice behavior was quantified in a radial maze. After a 3-week period on diet, the animals' physical development was assessed, and the retention of lead and zinc in bone and brain were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Zinc deficiency slowed rats' weight gain, did not affect relative organ weights, increased the retention of lead in both calvarium and in brain, and reduced the accuracy of performance in the maze. Lead exposure at 100 ppm reduced body weight and increased relative organ weights, and reduced maze accuracy at both 10 and 100 ppm. Neither treatment affected the rats' running speed through the maze. Lead exposure and zinc deficiency exerted additive effects on body weight. The two treatments did not interact in the behavioral assay.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Effects of difficulty and diagnosticity on choice among tasks in relation to achievement motivation and perceived ability.

The experiment is a partial replication of a study conducted by Trope. It investigates the effects of two person characteristics (achievement motive and perceived own ability) and two task characteristics (difficulty and diagnostic value about own ability) on choice among achievement tasks. In accordance with the results of Trope, it was found that high-diagnostic tasks were preferred to low-diagnostic tasks, independent of their difficulty. Trope's finding that high resultant achievers choose high-diagnostic tasks over low-diagnostic tasks to a greater extent than low resultant achievers was not replicated. However, the perceived degree of own ability affected choice behavior: When easy and difficult tasks were both high in diagnosticity, subjects high in perceived ability preferred difficult over easy tasks, whereas subjects low in perceived ability preferred easy over difficult tasks. From this latter finding it is concluded that a self-informational conception of choice behavior has to include the subjective probability of success at tasks as a determinant of choice, in addition to objective difficulty and diagnostic value.

Achievement↗
PubMed1985

Acquisition of dietary self-selection in rats with normal and impaired oral sensation.

To study the mechanisms of dietary self-selection, the dietary choice behavior of rats was observed for up to 5 weeks, beginning on the first day of exposure to two nutritionally different diets, a high-protein diet (44% protein) and a protein-free carbohydrate diet. In Experiment 1 normal rats selected equal amounts of the two selection diets at first and over a 7-day period gradually modified the choice ratio until a stable protein intake of 14.6% (SE,0.4) of total intake was reached. In Experiment 2 rats were subjected to partial trigeminal deafferentation, which impairs oral somatosensory input (touch, temperature, pain), before the two selection diets were introduced. The deafferented animals did not develop a stable selection pattern; their protein ratio varied over the entire possible range (0-44%) throughout the experiment. It is hypothesized that quantitative protein/carbohydrate selection involves an associative learning process in which somatosensory inputs from the feeding activity and/or from the properties of the food link dietary choice behavior to later metabolic consequences.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Dynamic Stochastic Models for Decision Making under Time Constraints

This paper introduces the multiattribute dynamic decision model (MADD) to describe both the dynamic and the stochastic nature of decision making. MADD is based on information processing models developed by Diederich. It belongs to the class of sequential comparison models and generalizes and extends the so-called decision field theory (DFT) of Busemeyer and Townsend. Describing the decision maker's choice behavior for multiattribute choice alternatives in an uncertain environment by a stochastic process, the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, MADD predicts choice probabilities and mean choice response times when the decision maker has to respond within a given time limit. This paper outlines the prediction of two different versions of the model in detail. Copyright 1997 Academic Press

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Generalization and categorization of spectral colors in goldfish I. Experiments with one training wavelength.

Goldfish have a tetrachromatic color vision with a high discrimination ability for spectral colors as well as for object colors. We investigate the question whether goldfish organize the high number of discriminable colors in terms of color categories, i.e. in a few larger groups of colors independent of wavelength discrimination. Twenty-four goldfish were trained with food reward, each fish on one out of 13 wavelengths between 371 nm and 630 nm. In transfer tests two different wavelengths were presented, one shorter and one longer than the training wavelength, and the choice behavior was determined. Choice frequencies of >or=50% were assumed to indicate similarity to the training color. The wavelength ranges >or=50% were about 100 nm and twice as large as the just noticeable differences measured in wavelength discrimination tests (Fig. 7). The ranges were surprisingly about the same for all training wavelengths, provided the data were plotted on a wavelength scale weighted according to discrimination ability (Fig. 4). Thus, with the training method chosen goldfish showed a kind of categorization which, however, depends on training wavelength and discrimination ability. Generalization tests in which training wavelength and test wavelengths were shown separately for 2 min each gave the same results as wavelength discrimination tests (Figs. 5 and 6) and are, therefore, not indicative for color categories.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Individual typological features of the dog behavior during the choice between food and avoidance of electrocutaneous stimulation].

Two conditioned reflexes (CR) on flash were elaborated in five dogs in three experimental series. In one of them pressing on pedal were constantly reinforced with two pieces of liver, in other--escape or avoidance of skin stimulation with lifting of leg. In a third series, series of reinforcement choice, in front of animal with electrodes, fasting on leg, put the pedal. During of choice series defensive reactions were dominated in two dogs, alimentary reactions--three of them. For restoration alimentary behaviour in dog with great dominating of defensive reactions were many times reinforced with--food "passive" pressing legs on pedal during conditional stimuli, dog with less dominating of these reactions for restoration were enough a few coupling of conditional stimuli with food. With intensification electrocutaneus stimulation of legs or decreasing alimentary reinforcement we a success of diminishing of degree of alimentary reaction domination in one dog and in other ones temporarily changed of these domination on prevalence of defensive reactions. The results were compared with data, obtained in these dogs with technique of choice between probability and value of alimentary reinforcement. This comparison were permitted us of ranging dogs on scale "carefulness-riskiness", revealed of individual typological features of these animals.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Church-based obesity treatment for African-American women improves adherence.

This study compared adherence to Behavioral Choice Treatment (BCT), a 12-week obesity treatment program that promotes weight loss and exercise, among 22 Caucasian-American and 10 African-American overweight women in a university setting to 10 African-American overweight women in a church setting. Behavioral Choice Treatment (BCT) promotes moderate behavior change that can be comfortably and therefore permanently maintained. Participants obtained feedback from computerized eating diaries and kept exercise logs. Results indicated that both university groups exhibited comparable eating pathology at pre- and post-treatment and comparable weight loss, despite the African-American sample attending fewer sessions. The African-American church group exhibited less disordered eating attitudes, less interpersonal distrust (eg, reluctance to form close relationships or sense of alienation) at pre-treatment, and experienced significantly greater weight loss than either university group. All groups lost weight and maintained these losses at 12-month follow-up. Preliminary results suggest treatment setting may play an important role in treatment adherence and sample characteristics.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

The value of sedentary alternatives influences child physical activity choice.

The choice to be physically active or sedentary depends in part on the value of the alternatives that are available. The shift from sedentary to active alternatives may be a function of the value of the sedentary alternatives. To evaluate the influence of the value of the sedentary alternatives on the choice to be physically active or sedentary, 30 nonobese 8-12-year-old youth were randomized in groups that provided a choice between 4 active alternatives or 4 sedentary alternatives (Group 1), their least valued sedentary activity (Group 2), or their most valued sedentary activity (Group 3), on computerized and questionnaire versions of a behavioral choice task. The computer task required participants to work for access to the alternatives. The work required to obtain access to the active alternatives remained constant for all choices, while the work required to gain access to the sedentary alternatives progressively increased. Compared to Groups 1 and 3, participants in Group 2 chose to be sedentary less often as they had to make a choice between being physically active or sedentary on the computerized (p < .005) and the questionnaire version (p < .05) of the behavioral choice task, which correlated r = .54, p < .01. These results suggest interventions designed to increase physical activity by reducing access to sedentary behaviors may need to consider the value of the targeted sedentary behavior and the extent to which the sedentary behaviors compete with physical activity.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1998

Integrating theoretical approaches to promote physical activity.

CONTEXT: Research on the promotion of physical activity has been based on a variety of conceptual models. These models generally target one level of analysis, such as the individual, community, or the environment, and differ in their relative contact with basic or applied science. There have been limited attempts to develop approaches that target multiple levels of analysis and can stimulate basic and applied research. OBJECTIVE: Theoretical integration in a multidiscliplinary field such as promotion of physical activity should take into account that social, behavioral, and biomedical colleagues may use different explanatory models, and use different approaches to the development of scientific knowledge. This essay argues for the development of integration of theory across multiple domains that can incorporate methods and findings of basic and applied scientists, and that uses language and methods common to social, behavioral, and biomedical scientists. METHOD: Behavioral choice theory is presented as an example of one theoretical approach that bridges different approaches to physical activity intervention, and that can stimulate both basic and applied research on physical activity. Behavioral research on choice was discussed in relationship to basic research, human laboratory research, and community and clinical research. CONCLUSIONS: Implications of behavioral choice theory for community and environmental change was discussed. The essay ends with ideas for future directions in integration of theory for physical activity research.

Choice Behavior↗
PubMed2006

Evaluating the quality of structured environmental management decisions.

Structured decision making (SDM) approaches have been advocated as a means of improving the quality of environmental and related risk management decisions based largely on the self-reported behavior of decision makers. The goal of the research presented here was to test this basis for decision quality by comparing the self-reported assessments of individual decision makers with their actual choice behavior across a set of three related environmental contexts. It was hypothesized that a modified structured decision approach would lead participants to make better informed decisions which accurately reflected their objectives, not based solely on self-reports, but also on internally consistent decision making behavior. Results from this study only partially support this hypothesis. While individuals' self-reports suggest that the structured approach outperformed results from an unstructured control condition, there was a lack of agreement between these self-reported evaluations and actual choice behavior. Beyond the obvious policy implications of decisions that are inconsistent with stated objectives, these findings point to the need for improved metrics when evaluating the quality of environmental decision processes.

Conservation of Natural Resources↗