Alternative Reward Research Articles

Choice of alcohol over a natural reward: an experimental study in light and heavy social drinkers.

A core symptom of alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a progressively increased choice of alcohol over alternative rewards despite negative consequences. Here, we investigated choice between personalized alcohol vs. natural rewards in a laboratory setting, and compared this behavior between non-treatment-seeking heavy drinkers and light social drinkers. 30 light social drinkers (15 men drinking < 15 drinks/week and 15 women drinking < 10 drinks/week) and 30 heavy, non-treatment-seeking drinkers (drinking more than these levels; 15 women). In the Concurrent Choice Alcohol Food (CCAF) task, participants chose between individually tailored images of alcohol and snack rewards and collected points towards the respective reward. To assess cost sensitivity, points associated to the images varied so that they favored alcohol or snack, or were equal, creating three relative point levels. Choice preference for alcohol was strongly correlated with Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) scores, supporting the external validity of the choice procedure. Compared to light drinkers, heavy drinkers showed increased choice preference for alcohol, as indicated by a between-group difference in points of subjective equality, a metric that quantifies the relative point level at which alcohol and snacks were equally likely to be chosen. In both groups, choice preference strongly depended on the relative point level of alcohol compared to snacks, suggesting that responding for alcohol in heavy drinkers was sensitive to costs. Our results replicate previous findings of a relationship between self-reported alcohol use and choice preference for alcohol. We also found that choice behavior was strongly dependent on relative cost of alcohol in both groups, although price sensitivity was lower in heavy compared to light drinkers. An increased choice preference for alcohol in heavy drinkers suggests that they attribute a higher relative reinforcing value to alcohol compared to natural rewards.

Behavioral activation for smoking cessation and the prevention of smoking cessation-related weight gain: A randomized trial

BackgroundPost-cessation weight gain (PCWG) is an obstacle to smoking cessation. This trial evaluated a behavioral intervention targeting alternative rewards to smoking and high calorie snacking to promote smoking cessation while mitigating PCWG. MethodsAdult smokers (n = 288; 119 females, 169 males) received eight weeks of transdermal nicotine and were randomized to eight sessions of behavioral activation for smoking cessation and the mitigation of PCWG (BAS+) or standard smoking cessation counseling (SC). Primary outcomes were 7-day point prevalence abstinence and PCWG 26 weeks after the target quit date. Change in caloric intake from pre-treatment through the 26-week follow-up was a secondary outcome. Data were collected from September 2016 to February 2021, and analyses were completed in July 2022. ResultsBAS+ and SC did not differ in smoking abstinence rates at the 26-week follow-up (OR=0.80, 95%CI 0.50–1.27, p = 0.34; 18% versus 23%). There were no significant differences in PCWG between BAS+ and SC who were 7-day point prevalence abstinent (β = −0.29, 95%CI −2.13 to 1.65, p = 0.77; 2.60 versus 2.20 pounds, respectively) or among those continuously abstinent (5.78 versus 5.34 pounds, respectively). There were no significant differences in caloric intake between BAS+ and SC from baseline to the 26-week follow-up (β = 110.65, 95%CI −96.72 to 318.02, p = 0.30; −19.1 versus −116.9 kcals/day, respectively). ConclusionsThe results do not support the efficacy of BAS+ for smoking cessation and the prevention of PCWG. These findings join a growing body of research highlighting the challenge of minimizing PCWG and promoting smoking abstinence.

FREEDOM, POVERTY, AND IMPACT REWARDS

AbstractA free world is one in which human beings can live free, self-directed lives. A great obstacle to such a world is severe poverty, still blighting the lives of half of humankind. We have the resources, technologies, and administrative capacities to eradicate severe poverty, but doing so requires some restructuring of existing social arrangements. We might begin with the current regime governing innovation, which has monopoly markups as its key funding source. Such monopoly rents encourage the quest for innovations, but also greatly impede their diffusion. This headwind harms the poor, who cannot afford monopoly prices and whose specific needs innovators thus tend to ignore. It also works against potential innovations whose benefits would mostly go to third parties whom buyers care little about. Both problems can be much alleviated through a supplementary alternative reward mechanism that would enable innovators to exchange their monopoly privileges on any patentable technology for impact rewards based on the social benefits achieved with it. By promoting innovations and their diffusion together, international impact funds would bring substantial gains in justice and cost-effectiveness, especially in the pharmaceutical and green-technology sectors.

Inter-Cell Network Slicing With Transfer Learning Empowered Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning

Network slicing enables operators to efficiently support diverse applications on a common physical infrastructure. The ever-increasing densification of network deployment leads to complex and non-trivial inter-cell interference, which requires more than inaccurate analytic models to dynamically optimize resource management for network slices. In this paper, we develop a DIRP algorithm with multiple deep reinforcement learning (DRL) agents to cooperatively optimize resource partition in individual cells to fulfill the requirements of each slice, based on two alternative reward functions. Nevertheless, existing DRL approaches usually tie the pretrained model parameters to specific network environments with poor transferability, which raises practical deployment concerns in large-scale mobile networks. Hence, we design a novel transfer learning-aided DIRP (TL-DIRP) algorithm to ease the transfer of DIRP agents across different network environments in terms of sample efficiency, model reproducibility, and algorithm scalability. The TL-DIRP algorithm first centrally trains a generalized model and then transfers the "generalist" to each local agent as "specialist" with distributed finetuning and execution. TL-DIRP consists of two steps: 1) centralized training of a generalized distributed model, 2) transferring the "generalist" to each "specialist" with distributed finetuning and execution. The numerical results show that not only DIRP outperforms existing baseline approaches in terms of faster convergence and higher reward, but more importantly, TL-DIRP significantly improves the service performance, with reduced exploration cost, accelerated convergence rate, and enhanced model reproducibility. As compared to a traffic-aware baseline, TL-DIRP provides about 15% less violation ratio of the quality of service (QoS) for the worst slice service and 8.8% less violation on the average service QoS.

Neurofunctional alterations of cognitive down-regulation of craving in quitting motivated smokers.

Cognitive down-regulation of craving involves a neural network within the prefrontal cortex. Tobacco use disorder (TUD) and trait impulsivity have been associated with prefrontal cortex impairments and down-regulation deficits. However, general deficits in down-regulation of craving (regarding non-drug-related cues) compared to never-smokers (NS), differential alterations between drug-related and non-drug-related cues, as well as its links to subject characteristics (smoking severity, trait impulsivity) have so far sparsely been investigated in TUD. In this study, 78 subjects (37 TUD & 42 NS) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing a down-regulation of craving task. Two reward cue-types were presented (drug cues and alternative rewards). Subjects applied down-regulation of craving during a LATER condition and up-regulated their craving during a NOW condition. Subjective craving ratings were assessed after each trial. To evaluate down-regulation of craving, we investigated the LATER versus NOW condition. TUD subjects showed no differences in down-regulation on a behavioral level, neither compared to NS nor between the two reward cue-types. On a neurofunctional level, we found a stronger BOLD response in the middle temporal gyrus in TUD subjects compared to NS in the alternative reward condition. No differences between the two reward cue-types were found within TUD subjects. During down-regulation across both reward cue-types, we identified significant negative associations between activation of control areas and smoking severity. Results neither indicate evidence for the expected general alterations in down-regulation of craving in TUD, compared to NS, nor specific alterations between drug-related and alternative reward cues on a neurofunctional level. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

ANALISIS DAMPAK GAME ONLINE TERHADAP PRESTASI BELAJAR PESERTA DIDIK ( STUDI KASUS DI SDN PENGARADAN 03 KECAMATAN TANJUNG KABUPATEN BREBES )

This research was conducted at the SDN Pengaradan 03 Kecamatan Tanjung, Kabupaten Brebes. The purpose of this study is 1) To determine the learning achievement of students. 2) To determine the factors that influence student learning achievement. 3) To find out efforts to minimize online game play on learning achievement. This study uses a qualitative approach, while the data collection uses the interview method, observation method and documentation method. The results of this study are 1) Learning achievement in Pengaradan 03 Kecamatan Tanjung, Kabupaten Brebes elementary school is quite good, where the velue is taken based on the attitude of the students themselves, daily by the teacher, mid – semester exam score and end of semester scores ehere the score is used as reference in knowing achievement learn students. 2) Factors that affect student learning achievement come from the family environment. Where family is the main and most important factor in shaping the character of students and a supportive social environment will affect the growth and development of students well by directing positive things that will affect the achievement og learning achievement in school. 3) Efforts that must be made in minimizing online game play are to to provide direction and understanding of the impact that is caused in online games that are done excessively, making the game on of the alternative rewards for student who get good ahievements so that they can motivate students to keep learning.

Just Rules for Innovative Pharmaceuticals

Globalized in 1995 through the TRIPs Agreement, humanity’s dominant mechanism for encouraging innovations involves 20-year product patents, whose monopoly features enable innovators to reap large markups or licensing fees from early users. Exclusive reliance on this reward mechanism in the pharmaceutical sector is morally problematic for two main reasons. First, it imposes a great burden on poor people who cannot afford to buy patented treatments at monopoly prices and whose specific health problems are therefore neglected by pharmacological research. Second, it discourages pharmaceutical firms from fighting diseases at the population level with the aim of slashing their incidence. These problems can be alleviated by establishing a supplementary alternative reward mechanism that would enable pharmaceutical innovators to exchange their monopoly privileges on a patented product for impact rewards based on the actual health gains achieved with this product. As such, an international Health Impact Fund (HIF) would create powerful new incentives to rapidly develop remedies against diseases concentrated among the poor, provide such remedies with ample care at very low prices, and deploy them strategically to contain, suppress, and ideally eradicate the target disease. By promoting innovations and their diffusion together, the HIF would greatly enlarge the benefits, and thereby also the cost-effectiveness, of the pharmaceutical sector, especially in favor of the world’s poor.

STRESS IN RELATION TO THEORETICAL AND CLINICAL ACTIVITIES AS EXPERIENCED BY BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN NURSING STUDENTS

Utilizing the descriptive survey method, the study aimed to determine the stress in relation to theoretical and clinical activities as experienced by Bachelor of Science in Nursing students. The specific problems were the profile of 31 student nurses, the stresses met in the theoretical and clinical setting, the coping mechanisms to the different stresses and the significant difference in coping mechanisms when grouped according to profile. The profile indicated that the student nurses have a general age of 20 years and below, dominated by female and single. The common stresses as classified: On personal stress: fear of making mistakes; academic stress: Intensity of academic workload; clinical stress: using highly technical equipment while on the time management problems, limited time to take a rest. As to the coping mechanisms, the student nurses did the following: COPING MECHANISMS INDICATORS Logical Analysis Think of different ways to deal with the problem Positive Reappraisal Tell themselves that things would get better Seeking Guidance and Support More prayers for guidance and strengths. Problem Solving Take “thinks a day at a time, one step at a time” Cognitive Avoidance They daydream or imagine a better time or place, than the one they are in. Seeking Alternative Rewards Expect the worst possible outcome Acceptance or Resignation Try to help others deal with a similar problem Emotional Discharge Cry to let their feelings out Significant differences were evident in the coping mechanisms in terms of civil status. Part of the study is the program on coping mechanisms for stress.

Long-term retention of learning of single alternate reward series in rats

Long-term retention of learning of single alternate reward series in rats

Approach and avoidant coping among black transgender women who have experienced violence: A qualitative analysis.

Black transgender women face nearly universal exposure to violence. Coping behaviors among cisgender women who have survived violence are well delineated; however, there are relatively few studies examining coping strategies for transgender women. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify and characterize coping behaviors employed by Black transgender women (from Baltimore, MD and Washington, DC metropolitan areas) following an experience of violence. Secondary qualitative data analysis was conducted using framework analysis to explore narratives of 19 Black transgender women. Themes regarding avoidant and approach coping behaviors were developed within the context of existing literature. Approach coping behavior themes included: Help-Seeking, Seeking Guidance and Support, Self-Protecting Behavior, Positive Reappraisal, Self-Affirmation, Self-Care, Connection to a Higher Power, and Acceptance. Avoidant coping behavior themes included: Cognitive Avoidance, Substance, Alcohol, and Tobacco Use, Emotional Discharge, and Seeking Alternative Rewards. Participants employed similar coping behaviors as seen among cisgender women survivors of violence. However, several unique applications of approach coping mechanisms were identified including self-protecting behavior and self-affirming behavior. Culturally informed application of the identified coping behaviors can be taught and integrated into trauma-informed mental health interventions to promote strength and resilience among Black transgender women. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Behavioral economics of substance use: Understanding and reducing harmful use during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Behavioral economic research demonstrates that alcohol and drug consumption is (a) an inverse function of constraints on access to the substance and (b) a direct function of constraints on access to alternative rewards. Physical distancing interventions and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in unprecedented reductions in many of the constraints on substance use and in critical evolutionarily salient sources of alternative reward, such as social interaction, physical activity, leisure activities and hobbies, and academic and occupational pursuits. Thus, behavioral economics suggests that the pandemic and necessary public health response have created a "perfect storm" for exacerbation of individual-level and population-level substance use problems and also points to multilevel intervention strategies. We summarize this perspective and research by highlighting 3 critical behavioral processes that will influence drug and alcohol consumption. First, the sudden absence of many effective constraints on substance use (work, school, community, or service obligations) will reduce the actual and perceived cost of use. Second, physical distancing measures will reduce the availability, and increase the cost, of many rewarding substance-free activities and commodities. Third, increased uncertainty around current and future events increases discounting of delayed rewards. These effects will be especially pernicious among populations with existing health disparities. Next, we outline interventions suggested by behavioral economics to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on substance use that are aimed at increasing perceived costs of use; increasing access to substance-free activities, including treatment; and lengthening the timeframe for behavioral allocation and altering environmental contexts to promote healthy choices. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Coping Strategies and Their Impact on Quality of Life and Physical Disability of People with Multiple Sclerosis.

The aim of the study is to investigate the impact of coping strategies on Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) and physical disability assessed with the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) of people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS). PwMS were asked to focus on “MS diagnosis” as the core stressor. One hundred eight pwMS completed the Coping Responses Inventory-Adult form (CRI-Adult), the Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life-29 (MSQoL-29), and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21). Multiple regression analyses (first block: EDSS, disease duration, and DASS-21) revealed that physical MSQoL-29 was positively associated with Alternative Rewards and negatively with Resigned Acceptance of the CRI-Adult. The mental MSQoL-29 was positively associated with Problem-Solving and negatively with Emotional Discharge. The Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS; first block: disease duration and general distress) was negatively associated with Positive Reappraisal. The Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that pwMS with lower physical disability showed higher scores in Positive Reappraisal and lower scores in Emotional Discharge than pwMS with a higher physical disability. Coping strategies can play a role on HRQoL and physical disability in pwMS above and beyond EDSS, disease duration, and general distress. Psychological interventions should be considered in pwMS since the time of diagnosis to promote engagement in adaptive coping strategies and contrast the maladaptive ones.

Reflect, not Regret: Understanding Regretful Smartphone Use with App Feature-Level Analysis

Digital intervention tools against problematic smartphone usage help users control their consumption on smartphones, for example, by setting a time limit on an app. However, today's social media apps offer a mix of quasiessential and addictive features in an app (e.g., Instagram has following feeds, recommended feeds, stories, and direct messaging features), which makes it hard to apply a uniform logic for all uses of an app without a nuanced understanding of feature-level usage behaviors. We study when and why people regret using different features of social media apps on smartphones. We examine regretful feature uses in four smartphone social media apps (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and KakaoTalk) by utilizing feature usage logs, ESM surveys on regretful use collected for a week, and retrospective interviews from 29 Android users. In determining whether a feature use is regretful, users considered different types of rewards they obtained from using a certain feature (i.e., social, informational, personal interests, and entertainment) as well as alternative rewards they could have gained had they not used the smartphone (e.g., productivity). Depending on the types of rewards and the way rewards are presented to users, probabilities to regret vary across features of the same app. We highlight three patterns of features with different characteristics that lead to regretful use. First, "following"-based features (e.g., Facebook's News Feed and Instagram's Following Posts and Stories) induce habitual checking and quickly deplete rewards from app use. Second, recommendation-based features situated close to actively used features (e.g., Instagram's Suggested Posts adjacent to Search) cause habitual feature tour and sidetracking from the original intention of app use. Third, recommendation-based features with bite-sized contents (e.g., Facebook's Watch Videos) induce using "just a bit more," making people fall into prolonged use. We discuss implications of our findings for how social media apps and intervention tools can be designed to reduce regretful use and how feature-level usage information can strengthen self-reflection and behavior changes.

Evidence for a hijacked brain reward system but no desensitized threat system in quitting-motivated smokers: An fMRI study.

Several aspects of how quitting-motivated tobacco use disorder (TUD) subjects and never-smokers differ in terms of reward and threat processing remain unresolved. We aimed to examine aberrant reward and threat processes in TUD and the association with smoking characteristics. A between- and within-subjects functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment with a 2(groups) × 4 (stimulus type) factorial design. The experimental paradigm had four conditions: pictures of (1) cigarettes served as drug-related-positive cues, (2) food as alternative reward cues, (3) long-term consequences of smoking as drug-related-negative cues and (4) neutral pictures as control. Adult participants (n = 38 TUD subjects and n = 42 never-smokers) were recruited in Berlin, Germany. As contrasts of primary interest, the interactions of group × stimulus-type were assessed. Significance threshold correction for multiple testing was carried out with the family-wise error method. Correlation analyses were used to test the association with smoking characteristics. The 2 × 2 interaction of smoking status and stimulus type revealed activations in the brain reward system to drug-related-positive cues in TUD subjects (between-subjects effect: P-values ≤ 0.036). As a response to drug-related-negative cues, TUD subjects showed no reduced activation of the aversive brain network. Within the TUD group, a significant negative association was found between response of the aversive brain system to drug-related-negative cues (within-subjects effect: P-values ≤ 0.021) and the number of cigarettes smoked per day (right insula r = -0.386, P = 0.024; left insula r = -0.351, P = 0.042; right ACC r = -0.359, P = 0.037). Moderate smokers with tobacco use disorder appear to have altered brain reward processing of drug-related-positive (but not negative) cues compared with never smokers.

Aversive drug cues reduce cigarette craving and increase prefrontal cortex activation during processing of cigarette cues in quitting motivated smokers.

Aversive drug cues can be used to support smoking cessation and create awareness of negative health consequences of smoking. Better understanding of the effects of aversive drug cues on craving and the processing of appetitive drug cues in abstinence motivated smokers is important to further improve their use in cessation therapy and smoking-related public health measures. In this study, 38 quitting motivated smokers underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning while performing a novel extended cue-reactivity paradigm. Pictures of cigarettes served as appetitive drug cues, which were preceded by either aversive drug cues (e.g., smokers' leg) or other cues (neutral or alternative reward cues). Participants were instructed to rate their craving for cigarettes after presentation of drug cues. When aversive drug cues preceded the presentation of appetitive drug cues, behavioural craving was reduced and activations in prefrontal (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and paralimbic (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex [dACC] and anterior insulae) areas were enhanced. A positive association between behavioural craving reduction and neurofunctional activation changes was shown for the right dACC. Our results suggest that aversive drug cues have an impact on the processing of appetitive drug cues, both on a neurofunctional and a behavioural level. A proposed model states that aversive drug-related cues activate control-associated brain areas (e.g., dACC), leading to increased inhibitory control on reward-associated brain areas (e.g., putamen) and a reduction in subjective cravings.

Animal Models of Drug Relapse and Craving after Voluntary Abstinence: A Review.

Relapse to drug use during abstinence is a defining feature of addiction. During the last several decades, this clinical scenario has been studied at the preclinical level using classic relapse/reinstatement models in which drug seeking is assessed after experimenter-imposed home-cage forced abstinence or extinction of the drug-reinforced responding in the self-administration chambers. To date, however, results from studies using rat relapse/reinstatement models have yet to result in Food and Drug Administration-approved medications for relapse prevention. The reasons for this state of affairs are complex and multifaceted, but one potential reason is that, in humans, abstinence is often self-imposed or voluntary and occurs either because the negative consequences of drug use outweigh the drug's rewarding effects or because of the availability of nondrug alternative rewards that are chosen over the drug. Based on these considerations, we and others have recently developed rat models of relapse after voluntary abstinence, achieved either by introducing adverse consequences to drug taking (punishment) or seeking (electric barrier) or by providing mutually exclusive choices between the self-administered drug and nondrug rewards (palatable food or social interaction). In this review, we provide an overview of these translationally relevant relapse models and discuss recent neuropharmacological findings from studies using these models. We also discuss sex as a biological variable, future directions, and clinical implications of results from relapse studies using voluntary abstinence models. Our main conclusion is that the neuropharmacological mechanisms controlling relapse to drug seeking after voluntary abstinence are often different from the mechanisms controlling relapse after home-cage forced abstinence or reinstatement after extinction. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: This review describes recently developed rat models of relapse after voluntary abstinence, achieved either by introducing adverse consequences to drug taking or seeking or by providing mutually exclusive choices between the self-administered drug and nondrug rewards. This review discusses recent neuropharmacological findings from studies using these models and discusses future directions and clinical implications.

Optimizing Player Experience in Interactive Narrative Planning: A Modular Reinforcement Learning Approach

Recent years have witnessed growing interest in data-driven approaches to interactive narrative planning and drama management. Reinforcement learning techniques show particular promise because they can automatically induce and refine models for tailoring game events by optimizing reward functions that explicitly encode interactive narrative experiences’ quality. Due to the inherently subjective nature of interactive narrative experience, designing effective reward functions is challenging. In this paper, we investigate the impacts of alternate formulations of reward in a reinforcement learning-based interactive narrative planner for the Crystal Island game environment. We formalize interactive narrative planning as a modular reinforcement-learning (MRL) problem. By decomposing interactive narrative planning into multiple independent sub-problems, MRL enables efficient induction of interactive narrative policies directly from a corpus of human players’ experience data. Empirical analyses suggest that interactive narrative policies induced with MRL are likely to yield better player outcomes than heuristic or baseline policies. Furthermore, we observe that MRL-based interactive narrative planners are robust to alternate reward discount parameterizations.

Low bee visitation rates explain pollinator shifts to vertebrates in tropical mountains

Evolutionary shifts from bee to vertebrate pollination are common in tropical mountains. Reduction in bee pollination efficiency under adverse montane weather conditions was proposed to drive these shifts. Although pollinator shifts are central to the evolution and diversification of angiosperms, we lack experimental evidence of the ecological processes underlying such shifts. Here, we combine phylogenetic and distributional data for 138 species of the Neotropical plant tribe Merianieae (Melastomataceae) with pollinator observations of 11 and field pollination experiments of six species to test whether the mountain environment may indeed drive such shifts. We demonstrate that shifts from bee to vertebrate pollination coincided with occurrence at high elevations. We show that vertebrates were highly efficient pollinators even under the harsh environmental conditions of tropical mountains, whereas bee pollination efficiency was lowered significantly through reductions in flower visitation rates. Furthermore, we show that pollinator shifts in Merianieae coincided with the final phases of the Andean uplift and were contingent on adaptive floral trait changes to alternative rewards and mechanisms facilitating pollen dispersal. Our results provide evidence that abiotic environmental conditions (i.e. mountain climate) may indeed reduce the efficiency of a plant clade's ancestral pollinator group and correlate with shifts to more efficient new pollinators.

Movement or more food? A comparison of motivation for exercise and food in stall-housed sows and gilts

Despite being phased out in the EU, several states in the USA and other select countries such as Australia, gestation stalls remains a common sow housing system worldwide. In Canada, the 2014 Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pigs permits the operation of existing stall barns, provided that bred female pigs are given opportunities for a greater freedom of movement, such as access to periodic exercise. How stall-housed sows perceive being confined and whether they are motivated for a greater freedom of movement has not been investigated. The objectives of this study were to determine the motivation of bred female pigs with different prior stall experience (PSE) to receive access to an alleyway for three minutes (Movement), and to compare this to their motivation for a feed reward (Food: 0.2 kg per reward). Stall-housed gilts (n = 12) and sows (n = 12, parity 2–4) were trained to use an operant panel with two buttons: an active button (AB – push counts resulted in a reward of feed or movement), and a dummy button (DB – push counts not rewarded). Animals were tested on an ascending fixed ratio (FR), with the required number of AB presses increasing by 50 % each consecutive day. Upon reaching their individual maximal FR for one reward, animals were retrained and tested on the opposite button and received the alternate reward. The maximum AB push count achieved during a testing session, the highest price paid: HPP, was used as a measure of sow motivation for the reward. Animal behaviour when out of the stall and the percentage of AB presses were also recorded. The HPP was influenced by PSE and reward type. Sows showed a greater HPP for feed than movement, but for gilts it did not differ. Sows had a greater motivation to access feed than gilts, however, gilts and sows did not differ in their motivation to access movement (mean HPP ± SEM, sows Food: 369.25 ± 56.47 vs Movement: 68.5 ± 13.61; gilts Food: 211.67 ± 47.73 vs Movement: 77.75 ± 19.47, F(1, 44) = 4.23, P ≤ 0.05). Results suggest that stall-housed gestating sows and gilts are similarly motivated to access time out of their stall. The presence of the motivation for movement is important for sows even though they had a greater motivation to access a feed reward, and the motivation for a feed reward increases with PSE.

The Relative Reinforcing Value of Cookies Is Higher Among Head Start Preschoolers With Obesity.

The relative reinforcing value (RRV) of food measures how hard someone will work for a high-energy-dense (HED) food when an alternative reward is concurrently available. Higher RRV for HED food has been linked to obesity, yet this association has not been examined in low-income preschool-age children. Further, the development of individual differences in the RRV of food in early childhood is poorly understood. This cross-sectional study tested the hypothesis that the RRV of HED (cookies) to low-energy-dense (LED; fruit) food would be greater in children with obesity compared to children without obesity in a sample of 130 low-income 3- to 5-year-olds enrolled in Head Start classrooms in Central Pennsylvania. In addition, we examined individual differences in the RRV of food by child characteristics (i.e., age, sex, and reward sensitivity) and food security status. The RRV of food was measured on concurrent progressive-ratio schedules of reinforcement. RRV outcomes included the last schedule reached (breakpoint) for cookies (cookie Pmax) and fruit (fruit Pmax), the breakpoint for cookies in proportion to the total breakpoint for cookies and fruit combined (RRV cookie), and response rates (responses per minute). Parents completed the 18-item food security module to assess household food security status and the Behavioral Activation System scale to assess reward sensitivity. Pearson’s correlations and mixed models assessed associations between continuous and discrete child characteristics with RRV outcomes, respectively. Two-way mixed effects interaction models examined age and sex as moderators of the association between RRV and Body Mass Index z-scores (BMIZ). Statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05. Children with obesity (17%) had a greater cookie Pmax [F (1, 121) = 4.95, p = 0.03], higher RRV cookie [F (1, 121) = 4.28, p = 0.04], and responded at a faster rate for cookies [F (1, 121) = 17.27, p < 0.001] compared to children without obesity. Children with higher cookie response rates had higher BMIZ (r = 0.26, p < 0.01); and RRV cookie was positively associated with BMIZ for older children (5-year-olds: t = 2.40, p = 0.02) and boys (t = 2.55, p = 0.01), but not younger children or girls. The RRV of food did not differ by household food security status. Low-income children with obesity showed greater motivation to work for cookies than fruit compared to their peers without obesity. The RRV of HED food may be an important contributor to increased weight status in boys and future research is needed to better understand developmental trajectories of the RRV of food across childhood.