Abstract:
\"Pavlovian\" or \"motivational\" biases describe the phenomenon that the valence of prospective outcomes modulates action invigoration: Reward prospect invigorates action, whereas punishment prospect suppresses it. The adaptive role of these biases in decision-making is still unclear. One idea is that they constitute a fast-and-frugal decision strategy in situations characterized by high arousal, e.g., in presence of a predator, which demand a quick response. In this pre-registered study (N = 35), we tested whether such a situation-induced via subliminally presented angry versus neutral faces-leads to increased reliance on Pavlovian biases. We measured trial-by-trial arousal by tracking pupil diameter while participants performed an orthogonalized Motivational Go/NoGo Task. Pavlovian biases were present in responses, reaction times, and even gaze, with lower gaze dispersion under aversive cues reflecting \"freezing of gaze.\" The subliminally presented faces did not affect responses, reaction times, or pupil diameter, suggesting that the arousal manipulation was ineffective. However, pupil dilations reflected facets of bias suppression, specifically the physical (but not cognitive) effort needed to overcome aversive inhibition: Particularly strong and sustained dilations occurred when participants managed to perform Go responses to aversive cues. Conversely, no such dilations occurred when they managed to inhibit responses to Win cues. These results suggest that pupil diameter does not reflect response conflict per se nor the inhibition of prepotent responses, but specifically effortful action invigoration as needed to overcome aversive inhibition. We discuss our results in the context of the \"value of work\" theory of striatal dopamine.
摘要:
\“巴甫洛夫\”或\“动机\”偏见描述了预期结果的效价调节行动活力的现象:奖励前景振兴行动,而惩罚前景压制了它。这些偏见在决策中的适应性作用尚不清楚。一个想法是,在以高唤醒为特征的情况下,它们构成了一种快速节俭的决策策略,例如,在捕食者面前,这需要快速反应。在这项预先注册的研究中(N=35),我们测试了这种通过潜意识表现的愤怒和中立面孔引起的情况是否会导致对巴甫洛夫偏见的依赖增加。当参与者执行正交激励Go/NoGo任务时,我们通过跟踪瞳孔直径来测量逐个试验的唤醒。反应中存在巴甫洛夫偏见,反应时间,甚至凝视,在厌恶的提示下,凝视分散较低,反映出凝视的冻结。“潜意识中出现的面孔并不影响反应,反应时间,或瞳孔直径,这表明唤醒操纵是无效的。然而,瞳孔扩张反映了偏置抑制的小平面,特别是克服厌恶性抑制所需的身体(而非认知)努力:当参与者设法对厌恶性提示进行围棋反应时,会发生特别强烈和持续的扩张。相反,当它们设法抑制对Win线索的反应时,没有发生这种扩张。这些结果表明,瞳孔直径本身并不反映反应冲突,也不反映强效反应的抑制,但需要特别努力的行动,以克服厌恶的抑制。我们在纹状体多巴胺的“工作价值”理论的背景下讨论我们的结果。