A transient dopamine signal represents the value of avoidance in negative reinforcement

Background. Recent evidence suggests that an abnormal response to performance feedback may contribute to the wide-ranging neuropsychological deficits typically associated with depressive illness. The present research sought to determine whether the inability of depressed patients to utilize performance feedback advantageously is equally true for accurate and misleading feedback.Method. Patients with major depression and matched controls completed: (1) a visual discrimination and reversal task that featured intermittent and misleading negative feedback; and (2) feedback and no-feedback versions of a computerised test of spatial working memory. In the feedback version, negative feedback was accurate, highly informative, and could be used as a mnemonic aid.Results. On the Probability Reversal task, depressed patients were impaired in their ability to maintain response set in the face of misleading negative feedback as shown by their increased tendency to switch responding to the ‘incorrect’ stimulus following negative reinforcement, relative to that of controls. Patients' ability to acquire and reverse the necessary visual discrimination was unimpaired. On the Spatial Working Memory task, depressed patients made significantly more between-search errors than controls on the most difficult trials, but their ability to use negative feedback to facilitate performance remained intact.Conclusions. The present results suggest that feedback can have different effects in different contexts. Misleading, negative feedback appears to disrupt the performance of depressed patients, whereas negative but accurate feedback does not. These findings are considered in the context of recent studies on reinforcement systems and their associated neurobiological substrates.

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Contiguous Approach Conditioning: A Model for Negative Reinforcement

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1975.37.3.851 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 37 (3) ◽

pp. 851-856 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ernest G. Maples ◽

Phillip D. Tomporowski ◽

Maury M. Haraway

Keyword(s):

Test Trial ◽

Negative Reinforcement ◽

Shock Termination ◽

Single Test ◽

Empirical Basis ◽

Equivalent Number ◽

The Difference

The study was designed to provide an empirical basis for Denny's account of negative reinforcement by showing that stimuli contiguously paired with shock termination can become conditioned elicitors of approach. 20 experimental Ss received 15 trials in which the onset of a 6-w light was paired with the termination of a 30-sec., 1-ma. scrambled shock, independently of Ss' behavior. 20 control Ss received an equivalent number of light and shock presentations, but these were unpaired. On a single test trial, S was exposed to a 6 w light in one arm (randomly selected) of a modified T-maze. 17 of 20 experimental Ss approached the light whereas only 11 of 20 control Ss approached the light. The difference between proportions was significant ( p = .05).

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Negative Reinforcement–Based Treatment to Increase Food Intake

Behavior Modification ◽

10.1177/0145445500244007 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 24 (4) ◽

pp. 600-608 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Edward B. Kitfield ◽

Christopher J. Masalsky

Keyword(s):

Food Intake ◽

Negative Reinforcement ◽

Increase Food Intake

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Hearing Test for a Profoundly Retarded Human Subject

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1978.46.1.91 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 46 (1) ◽

pp. 91-94 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

William J. Wyatt

Keyword(s):

Human Subject ◽

Negative Reinforcement ◽

Visual Cue ◽

Ethical Concerns ◽

Hearing Disability ◽

Aversive Stimuli ◽

Auditory Cue ◽

Hearing Test ◽

Continued Use ◽

Low Functioning

A profoundly retarded 28-yr.-old female was trained to avoid an aversive but harmless shock to the foot by withdrawing the foot upon presentation of a visual cue. She was later unable to learn to avoid the shock consistently upon presentation of an auditory cue, confirming the ward staff's contention that she had a hearing disability. The audiometric technique using negative reinforcement bridges the problems of (1) difficulty in finding positive reinforcers for patients of low functioning and (2) satiation which may result from the continued use of positive reinforcers. The use of aversive stimuli raises ethical concerns. The growing trend in research is that aversive stimuli are permissible for individuals for whom positive techniques have not been effective and when used by trained professionals under careful review.

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Conflicts with Wolves Can Originate from Their Parent Packs

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani11061801 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 1801

Author(s):

Diederik van Liere ◽

Nataša Siard ◽

Pim Martens ◽

Dušanka Jordan

Keyword(s):

The Netherlands ◽

Early Life ◽

Negative Reinforcement ◽

Life Experiences ◽

Farm Animals ◽

Next Generation ◽

New Methods ◽

Google Search

Transmission of experience about prey and habitat supports the survival of next generation of wolves. Thus, the parent pack (PP) can affect whether young migrating wolves (loners) kill farm animals or choose to be in human environments, which generates human–wolf conflicts. Therefore, we researched whether the behavior of loners resembles PP behavior. After being extinct, 22 loners had entered the Netherlands between 2015 and 2019. Among them, 14 could be DNA-identified and linked with their PPs in Germany. Some loners were siblings. We assessed the behavior of each individual and PP through a structured Google search. PP behavior was determined for the loner’s rearing period. Similarity between loner and PP behavior was significant (p = 0.022) and applied to 10 of 14 cases: like their PPs, three loners killed sheep and were near humans, five killed sheep and did not approach humans, while two loners were unproblematic, they did not kill sheep, nor were they near humans. Siblings behaved similarly. Thus, sheep killing and proximity to humans may develop during early-life experiences in the PP. However, by negative reinforcement that can be prevented. New methods are suggested to achieve that. As a result, new generations may not be problematic when leaving PPs.

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Consolidating the Circuit Model for Addiction

Annual Review of Neuroscience ◽

10.1146/annurev-neuro-092920-123905 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 44 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Christian Lüscher ◽

Patricia H. Janak

Keyword(s):

Negative Reinforcement ◽

Circuit Model ◽

Annual Review ◽

Publication Date ◽

Early Model ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

Individual Vulnerability ◽

Core Components ◽

Natural Rewards ◽

Pathological Behavior

Addiction is a disease characterized by compulsive drug seeking and consumption observed in 20–30% of users. An addicted individual will favor drug reward over natural rewards, despite major negative consequences. Mechanistic research on rodents modeling core components of the disease has identified altered synaptic transmission as the functional substrate of pathological behavior. While the initial version of a circuit model for addiction focused on early drug adaptive behaviors observed in all individuals, it fell short of accounting for the stochastic nature of the transition to compulsion. The model builds on the initial pharmacological effect common to all addictive drugs—an increase in dopamine levels in the mesolimbic system. Here, we consolidate this early model by integrating circuits underlying compulsion and negative reinforcement. We discuss the genetic and epigenetic correlates of individual vulnerability. Many recent data converge on a gain-of-function explanation for circuit remodeling, revealing blueprints for novel addiction therapies. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Neuroscience, Volume 44 is July 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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Manganese toxicity is targeting an early step in the dopamine signal transduction pathway that controls lateral cilia activity in the bivalve mollusc Crassostrea virginica

Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part C Toxicology & Pharmacology ◽

10.1016/j.cbpc.2018.07.002 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 213 ◽

pp. 1-6 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Michael Nelson ◽

Trevon Adams ◽

Christiana Ojo ◽

Margaret A. Carroll ◽

Edward J. Catapane

Keyword(s):

Signal Transduction ◽

Crassostrea Virginica ◽

Signal Transduction Pathway ◽

Manganese Toxicity ◽

Bivalve Mollusc ◽

Transduction Pathway ◽

Early Step ◽

Dopamine Signal

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Aversive Stimuli in Academic Interactions between Students with Serious Emotional Disturbance and their Teachers

Behavioral Disorders ◽

10.1177/019874299301800405 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 265-274 ◽

Cited By ~ 89

Author(s):

Philip L. Gunter ◽

R. Kenton Denny ◽

Susan L. Jack ◽

Richard E. Shores ◽

C. Michael Nelson

Keyword(s):

Emotional Disturbance ◽

Negative Reinforcement ◽

Teacher Behaviors ◽

Serious Emotional Disturbance ◽

Instructional Behaviors ◽

Aversive Stimuli ◽

Avoidance Behaviors ◽

Academic Activities ◽

Growing Body ◽

Teachers And Students

This manuscript presents a review of the growing body of research concerning the influence of negative reinforcement on student and teacher behaviors. Negative reinforcement strengthens behaviors that result in escape from, or avoidance of, aversive stimuli. It is argued that negative reinforcement is a variable in the academic interactions of students with serious emotional disturbance and their teachers, Although both desired and undesired behaviors may be outcomes of negative reinforcement, because of the academic deficiencies of students with serious emotional disturbance and the instructional behaviors of their teachers, the escape and avoidance behaviors exhibited by these students more often may be undesired. The authors call for research to investigate sources of aversive stimuli within academic interactions between teachers and students with serious emotional disturbance as well as the potentially aversive stimuli present in academic activities. Implications for teaching practices also are presented.

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