From action initiation to persistence: A Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer analysis for cue-based goal pursuit.

Abstract

Previous research suggests that cues can motivate goal-directed behavior directly. According to the framework of human unconscious goal pursuit, exposure to goal-relevant cues yields two distinct behavioral effects: action initiation and subsequent action persistence. However, the evidence for such a full motivational control effect in human goal-directed behavior is meager. The present study builds on the Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) approach to test the cue-based motivational control. We employed a tapping task that considers the speed of decreasing the distance between an outcome and oneself as an index of motivation of behavior. Thus, we could separate action initiation and persistence in one single test task. Participants first underwent instrumental and Pavlovian training. They learned to press two keys to earn 20 or 5 cents (high-or low-value outcomes) and to associate the two outcomes with two specific cues. Next, they had to press one of the two keys multiple times to bring a Pavlovian cue to the front of their computer screen. Results showed that participants responded faster with the high-value key to the high-versus low-value cue, indicating value-sensitive action initiation effects. However, this effect did not translate into action persistence, as the response time steeply declined over time. These results point to the importance of differentiating between action initiation and persistence of action in cue-based goaldirected behavior as modeled by PIT.

Pavlovian cues boost self-regulation: Predicting success with conditioned stimuli.

“…Future work can directly test these predictions by examining how Pavlovian cues influence decisions to pursue competing goals. Considering prior research that found an effect of specific PIT on action initiation but not persistence (Qin et al, 2023), one important question is whether specific PIT and general PIT play different roles in self-regulation. For example, it may be that specific PIT, which tracks differences in specific features between rewards, has a stronger role in identifying and therefore initiating relevant actions, while general PIT, by tracking the difference between reward and nonreward, has a stronger role in recruiting effort that correlates with general reward value.…”

“…A recent study more directly tests the role of PIT in human self-regulation: Qin et al (2023) explicitly distinguished the effects of PIT on action initiation from its effects on effortful persistence in a key-tapping task. In the computerized task, each keypress brings the outcome visually closer to the participant, providing a visual representation of goal progress.…”

Revisiting Automatic Goal Pursuit: Exploring the Value of Goals in Cue-Based Behavior

“…This question was investigated in Qin et al (2023c;Chapter 5) by measuring action initiation and action persistence in the test phase where the PIT effect can be observed. Participants were instructed to press a key multiple times on a keyboard to move a Pavlovian cue associated with a desirable outcome to the front of a hallway displayed on the computer screen.…”

“…One important reason for the absence of the PIT effect on persistence speaks to the value of outcomes. The present studies (Qin et al, 2023c; Chapter 5) used two monetary outcomes of different values (i.e., 5 vs. 20 cents) that were each linked to a specific Pavlovian cue. Whereas the 20 cents value outcome is four times more worth than the 5 cents value outcome, it might be the case that the difference between the two values is too small to motivate participants to invest effort.…”