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Minimal cross-trial generalization in learning the representation of an odor-guided choice task
There is no single way to represent a task. Indeed, despite experiencing the same task events and contingencies, different subjects may form distinct task representations. As experimenters, we often assume that subjects represent the task as we envision it. However, such a representation cannot be t...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8986096/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35333867 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009897 |
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author | Song, Mingyu Takahashi, Yuji K. Burton, Amanda C. Roesch, Matthew R. Schoenbaum, Geoffrey Niv, Yael Langdon, Angela J. |
author_facet | Song, Mingyu Takahashi, Yuji K. Burton, Amanda C. Roesch, Matthew R. Schoenbaum, Geoffrey Niv, Yael Langdon, Angela J. |
author_sort | Song, Mingyu |
collection | PubMed |
description | There is no single way to represent a task. Indeed, despite experiencing the same task events and contingencies, different subjects may form distinct task representations. As experimenters, we often assume that subjects represent the task as we envision it. However, such a representation cannot be taken for granted, especially in animal experiments where we cannot deliver explicit instruction regarding the structure of the task. Here, we tested how rats represent an odor-guided choice task in which two odor cues indicated which of two responses would lead to reward, whereas a third odor indicated free choice among the two responses. A parsimonious task representation would allow animals to learn from the forced trials what is the better option to choose in the free-choice trials. However, animals may not necessarily generalize across odors in this way. We fit reinforcement-learning models that use different task representations to trial-by-trial choice behavior of individual rats performing this task, and quantified the degree to which each animal used the more parsimonious representation, generalizing across trial types. Model comparison revealed that most rats did not acquire this representation despite extensive experience. Our results demonstrate the importance of formally testing possible task representations that can afford the observed behavior, rather than assuming that animals’ task representations abide by the generative task structure that governs the experimental design. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8986096 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-89860962022-04-07 Minimal cross-trial generalization in learning the representation of an odor-guided choice task Song, Mingyu Takahashi, Yuji K. Burton, Amanda C. Roesch, Matthew R. Schoenbaum, Geoffrey Niv, Yael Langdon, Angela J. PLoS Comput Biol Research Article There is no single way to represent a task. Indeed, despite experiencing the same task events and contingencies, different subjects may form distinct task representations. As experimenters, we often assume that subjects represent the task as we envision it. However, such a representation cannot be taken for granted, especially in animal experiments where we cannot deliver explicit instruction regarding the structure of the task. Here, we tested how rats represent an odor-guided choice task in which two odor cues indicated which of two responses would lead to reward, whereas a third odor indicated free choice among the two responses. A parsimonious task representation would allow animals to learn from the forced trials what is the better option to choose in the free-choice trials. However, animals may not necessarily generalize across odors in this way. We fit reinforcement-learning models that use different task representations to trial-by-trial choice behavior of individual rats performing this task, and quantified the degree to which each animal used the more parsimonious representation, generalizing across trial types. Model comparison revealed that most rats did not acquire this representation despite extensive experience. Our results demonstrate the importance of formally testing possible task representations that can afford the observed behavior, rather than assuming that animals’ task representations abide by the generative task structure that governs the experimental design. Public Library of Science 2022-03-25 /pmc/articles/PMC8986096/ /pubmed/35333867 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009897 Text en https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) public domain dedication. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Song, Mingyu Takahashi, Yuji K. Burton, Amanda C. Roesch, Matthew R. Schoenbaum, Geoffrey Niv, Yael Langdon, Angela J. Minimal cross-trial generalization in learning the representation of an odor-guided choice task |
title | Minimal cross-trial generalization in learning the representation of an odor-guided choice task |
title_full | Minimal cross-trial generalization in learning the representation of an odor-guided choice task |
title_fullStr | Minimal cross-trial generalization in learning the representation of an odor-guided choice task |
title_full_unstemmed | Minimal cross-trial generalization in learning the representation of an odor-guided choice task |
title_short | Minimal cross-trial generalization in learning the representation of an odor-guided choice task |
title_sort | minimal cross-trial generalization in learning the representation of an odor-guided choice task |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8986096/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35333867 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009897 |
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