Pavlovian feed-forward mechanisms in the control of social behavior

Abstract

The conceptual and investigative tools for the analysis of social behavior can be expanded by integrating biological theory, control systems theory, and Pavlovian conditioning. Biological theory has focused on the costs and benefits of social behavior from ecological and evolutionary perspectives. In contrast, control systems theory is concerned with how machines achieve a particular goal or purpose. The accurate operation of a system often requires feed-forward mechanisms that adjust system performance in anticipation of future inputs. Pavlovian conditioning is ideally suited to subserve this function in behavioral systems. Pavlovian mechanisms have been demonstrated in various aspects of sexual behavior, maternal lactation, and infant suckling. Pavlovian conditioning of agonistic behavior has been also reported, and Pavlovian processes may likewise be involved in social play and social grooming. Several further lines of evidence indicate that Pavlovian conditioning can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of social interactions, thereby improving their cost/benefit ratio. We extend Pavlovian concepts beyond the traditional domain of discrete secretory and other physiological reflexes to complex real-world behavioral interactions and apply abstract laboratory analyses of the mechanisms of associative learning to the daily challenges animals face as they interact with one another in their natural environments.

Fatal attraction: Ventral striatum predicts costly choice errors in humans

“…Specifically, functional variation between subjects in ventral striatum as they learned to predict erotic events could explain a stable tendency to acquire and reacquire financially-costly behaviour. Because this behaviour persisted despite the consequences, it resembled the myopic, 'model-free' Pavlovian behaviour observed in animal feeding (Williams and Williams 1969;Rosenthal and Matthews 1978;Locurto 1981;Domjan, Cusato et al 2000;Sanabria, Sitomer et al 2006), sexual and social behavior (Domjan, Cusato et al 2000). Our results therefore revive one classical perspective on the neurobiology of suboptimal decision-making: simple instinctive heuristics like 'approach things which predict reward' which were adaptive on average during natural selection can easily leave us vulnerable to exploitation.…”

“…Hypothetically, choice errors might also arise from a behavioural attraction to options with positive associations, even when this attraction is costly and has never been reinforced or habitized. It is notable here that non-human animals approach rewardpredictive cues even when this approach is inefficient or specifically non-reinforced 1 , thereby providing the canonical evidence for hardwired "Pavlovian" approach systems (Williams and Williams 1969;Rosenthal and Matthews 1978;Locurto 1981;Domjan, Cusato et al 2000;Sanabria, Sitomer et al 2006). However, it is currently unclear whether this tendency can produce financiallycostly choice errors in humans and, if so, by what mechanism.…”

Aggressive Behaviour in Fish: Integrating Information about Contest Costs

“…11-ketotestosterone) can negatively impact reproduction or immune function, respectively (Kurtz et al 2007;Alsop et al 2009). On the other hand, learning as a long-term mechanism of information accumulation carries costs (Domjan et al 2000) of, for instance, maintaining the new neural connections, competing uses of those connections and changes in synaptic characteristics (e.g. alterations in receptor expression; Meyer et al 2004).…”

Learning with arbitrary versus ecological conditioned stimuli: Evidence from sexual conditioning

“…Another point that has become increasingly popular to emphasize is that Pavlovian conditioning can be characterized as an adaptive process that promotes efficient interactions of the organism with significant biological events in its natural environment (Domjan, Cusato, & Villarreal, 2000;Hollis, 1982Hollis, , 1997. This ecological view is especially appealing to those interested in functional considerations, but it may not be easily reconciled with definitions of Pavlovian conditioning that emphasize the use of arbitrary CSs.…”