Individual concerns modulate reward-related learning and behaviors involving sexual outcomes.

Eva R Pool,David Sander,Tobias Brosch,Francesco Bianchi-Demicheli,Sylvain Delplanque,Yoann Stussi,Vanessa Sennwald

doi:10.1037/mot0000249

Abstract

Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning are fundamental processes helping organisms learn about stimuli that predict rewards in the environment and actions that lead to their obtainment. These two forms of learning and their interplay notably exert a strong impact on reward-seeking behaviors. Here, we examined in humans whether Pavlovian and instrumental learning along with their effects on cue-driven behaviors involving sexual rewards are modulated by the reward relevance to the individual’s sexual orientation. In two experiments, we manipulated the concern-relevance of sexual outcomes in a Pavlovian-instrumental transfer paradigm by recruiting heterosexual and homosexual men and selecting sexual stimuli for each sexual orientation. Results showed enhanced instrumental and Pavlovian learning in response to the most relevant sexual outcome to participants’ sexual orientation as well as increased reward-seeking behaviors in response to its associated cue compared to the less relevant sexual outcome and its associated cue, respectively, thereby reflecting that inter-individual differences in sexual concerns modulated these effects. These findings suggest that motivational influence on reward-related learning and behaviors involving sexual stimuli relies on inter-individual differences in concerns and contribute to fostering further insight into the mechanisms underlying human reward-seeking behaviors.

Highlights

Albeit independent, Pavlovian and instrumental learning processes interact in a number of ways, their interplay having a powerful influence on reward-seeking behaviors (Corbit & Balleine, 2016; O’Doherty et al, 2017; Rangel et al, 2008)
Outcome liking To verify that there were differences in the likability of the images selected as outcomes as rated by heterosexual male participants, a one-way repeated-measures ANOVA was applied to the outcome liking ratings with the outcome type as a within-participant factor
Planned comparisons showed that heterosexual participants squeezed the handgrip more to reveal the image of the woman (M = 8.43, SD = 4.74) than the man (M = 6.52, SD = 4.52), t(38) = 3.11, p = .004, gav = 0.398, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.110, 0.709], BF10 = 35.29, whereas homosexual participants squeezed the handgrip more to reveal the image of the man (M = 7.78, SD = 4.32) than that of the woman (M = 6.00, SD = 3.45), t(38) = 2.88, p = .006, gav = 0.442, 95% CI [0.119, 0.791], BF10 = 33.03 (Fig. 2C)

Summary

Introduction

Pavlovian and instrumental learning processes interact in a number of ways, their interplay having a powerful influence on reward-seeking behaviors (Corbit & Balleine, 2016; O’Doherty et al, 2017; Rangel et al, 2008). Based on incentive motivation models (e.g., Bindra, 1974; Bolles, 1972; Toates, 1998) and the incentive salience hypothesis (Berridge & Robinson, 1998, 2016), the findings that the organism’s physiological state can modulate Pavlovian cues’ influence on (nonselective) instrumental responding have been interpreted as reflecting that homeostatic motivation states act to enhance the incentive value of relevant rewards and their associated cues Such heightened incentive value in turn contributes to facilitating learning and potentiating the general motivational influence of reward-associated cues on reward-seeking behaviors (Dickinson & Balleine, 2002). Whereas affective relevance and incentive salience are closely related in that they both stem from the synergetic interplay between the stimulus event and the organism’s motivational state, affective relevance is not limited to physiological needs, but encompasses multiple categories of concerns, including momentary goals or more complex aspects tied to self-concepts for instance (Pool, Sennwald et al, 2016)

Methods

Results

Conclusion