Abstract
Contingency learning is fundamental to cognition. Knowledge about environmental contingencies allows behavioral flexibility, as executive control processes accommodate the demands of novel or changing environments. Studies of experiential learning have focused on the relationship between actions and the values of associated outcomes. However, outcome values have often been confounded with the physical changes in the outcomes themselves. Here, we dissociated contingency learning into valuative and non-valuative forms, using a novel version of the two-alternative choice task, while measuring the neural effects of contingency changes using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Changes in value-relevant contingencies evoked activation in the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC), posterior parietal cortex (PPC), and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) consistent with prior results (e.g., reversal-learning paradigms). Changes in physical contingencies unrelated to value or to action produced similar activations within the LPFC, indicating that LPFC may engage in generalized contingency learning that is not specific to valuation. In contrast, contingency changes that required behavioral shifts evoked activation localized to the DMPFC, supplementary motor, and precentral cortices, suggesting that these regions play more specific roles within the executive control of behavior.
Highlights
Contingency learning is a fundamental component of cognition
A feature of this task is that subjects should engage in one-trial learning, which minimizes the problems of temporal credit assignment that occur within probabilistic reversal learning tasks
Numerous studies have explored the neural basis of valuative contingency learning, many have confounded the change in the reward with the physical change in the rewarding stimulus
Summary
Contingency learning is a fundamental component of cognition. By identifying the relationships between actions and events, humans and other animals can produce goal-directed and flexible behavior that accounts for changes in their environments. Studies of the neural basis of contingency learning – often using reversal tasks in which reward contingencies change unexpectedly – have identified a host of involved brain areas (Cools et al, 2002; O’Doherty et al, 2003; Remijnse et al, 2005; Xue et al, 2008) Many of these regions have been described as constituting the dorsal executive network (Duncan and Owen, 2000) or central executive (Goldman-Rakic, 1996). Most prior studies of executive control have used tasks with co-occurring contingency changes and engagement of executive control mechanisms
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