Punishment insensitivity emerges from impaired contingency detection, not aversion insensitivity or reward dominance.

Philip Jean-Richard-Dit-Bressel,Simon Killcross,Cassandra Ma,Laura A Bradfield,Gavan P Mcnally

doi:10.7554/elife.52765

Philip Jean-Richard-Dit-Bressel, Simon Killcross + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.52765

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Abstract

Our behaviour is shaped by its consequences - we seek rewards and avoid harm. It has been reported that individuals vary markedly in their avoidance of detrimental consequences, that is in their sensitivity to punishment. The underpinnings of this variability are poorly understood; they may be driven by differences in aversion sensitivity, motivation for reward, and/or instrumental control. We examined these hypotheses by applying several analysis strategies to the behaviour of rats (n = 48; 18 female) trained in a conditioned punishment task that permitted concurrent assessment of punishment, reward-seeking, and Pavlovian fear. We show that punishment insensitivity is a unique phenotype, unrelated to differences in reward-seeking and Pavlovian fear, and due to a failure of instrumental control. Subjects insensitive to punishment are afraid of aversive events, they are simply unable to change their behaviour to avoid them.

Highlights

IntroductionDecisions, and choices are shaped by their consequences
Our behaviours, decisions, and choices are shaped by their consequences
Three contingencies were in effect within this task: the instrumental contingency of reward which should maintain responding on both levers; the instrumental contingency of punishment, which should bias animals away from the punished response, and the aversive Pavlovian contingency that drives fear conditioning to predictive cues and suppresses ongoing behaviour (i.e. Pavlovian suppression)

Summary

Introduction

Decisions, and choices are shaped by their consequences. When rewarded, they are likely to be repeated, but when punished they are not. Reward and punishment are among the most fundamental psychological building blocks of behaviour. They allow us to cope with a changing world, maximising our probability of survival by seeking utility and avoiding harm. Individuals differ significantly in their sensitivity to punishment (Corr, 2004; Corr, 2013; Gray, 1970; Gray, 1982; Marchant et al, 2018). Punishment sensitivity is an increasingly popular measure of the motivation to engage in drug-seeking and drug-taking (Augier et al, 2018; DerocheGamonet et al, 2004; Kasanetz et al, 2013; Marchant et al, 2018; Pascoli et al, 2015; Vanderschuren and Everitt, 2004; Vanderschuren et al, 2017)

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