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Poster C128 in Poster Session C - Friday, August 9, 2024, 11:15 am – 1:15 pm, Johnson Ice Rink
Gains and Losses Modulate Novelty-Seeking During Explore-Exploit Decisions
Kathryn M. Rothenhoefer1, McKenna D. Stocker1, Vincent D. Costa1 (); 1OHSU
Explore-exploit decision making requires balancing exploiting known options and exploring novel options in order to maximize long term value. Understanding valence dependencies in explore-exploit tradeoffs remains a challenge, as it is difficult to equate appetitive and aversive primary reinforcers. We solve this problem by using virtual tokens as secondary reinforcers to be exchanged for juice rewards. Rhesus macaques start with a token endowment, and then choose between novel and familiar cues during a multi-arm bandit task where cues are associated with either a gain or loss of tokens. Monkeys efficiently learn to approach cues associated with gains and avoid cues associated with losses, however, directed exploration of novel choice options was dependent on the reward horizon and valence context. These results imply that primates value information over rewards, especially when attempting to resolve uncertainty in aversive decision contexts.
Keywords: novelty explore-exploit decision making reward valence