Amount Of Reward Research Articles

Reduced Neuronal Value Signals in Monkey Orbitofrontal Cortex during Relative Reward-Specific Satiety of Two-Component Choice Options

Sensitivity to satiety constitutes a necessary requirement for claiming neuronal coding of subjective reward value. In the most natural and interpretable way, specific satiety arises from on-going consumption of individual rewards. Choices between differently sated rewards reveal specific value reductions. However, animals often fail to choose a sated reward over a less sated reward, which precludes precise satiety assessment at choice indifference between single rewards. Choice options with two distinct rewards ('bundles') offer a solution. We used the framework of Revealed Preference Theory that defines the subjective value of composite bundles and studied reward-specific satiety during on-going reward consumption. Monkeys chose between two bundles that each contained one less and one more sated reward with independently set quantity. Despite advancing satiety, the animals kept choosing both bundles and attained choice indifference with psychophysically controlled reward titration. The reward quantities required for choice indifference suggested differential, reward-specific subjective value reduction. Conventional measurement of licking demonstrated mechanistic independence of subjective value change. Neuronal chosen value signals in orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) followed closely the choice pattern of subjective value change within recording periods of individual neurons. A neuronal classifier distinguishing the bundles and predicting choice substantiated the subjective value change. Conventional choice between single rewards confirmed the neuronal response change seen with two-reward bundles. These results demonstrate a neuronal substrate for satiety-induced subjective value change as necessary requirement for subjective value coding in OFC.

Organizational Commitments in Financial Service Audit With Antecedents of Organizational Justice and Job Satisfaction

Public trust in a profession is determined by the reliability, accuracy, timeliness, and quality of services or services that can be provided by the auditor profession. Although the auditor's work and performance procedures have tended to be supervised and determined strictly and formally by external institutions, studies have shown that the context of the internal environment has an effect on improving auditor performance. This study seeks to analyze the effect of organizational justice and job satisfaction in the auditor's environment on organizational commitment. It focuses more on behavioral accounting, specifically relating to the auditor's work environment, by taking the object of the treatment's influence in the organization's internal participation and involvement of auditors that is reflected by organizational commitment. By using the Structural Equation Model (SEM), the findings show that procedural justice and interactional justice are empirically proven to influence organizational commitment. On the other hand, distributive justice has no effect on organizational commitment, and job satisfaction has also been proven empirically to have no effect on organizational commitment. These results provide input for public accounting firms so as not to overlook the fairness factor in providing rewards to auditors. In the case of fairness the awarding of rewards / awards to the auditor is not only limited to the amount of reward, but also the process for determining the amount of the reward.

Token's function and role for securing ecosystem

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role and function of tokens to form a healthy blockchain-based ecosystem. Tokens must be constructed in a way that enhances their desired behavior to grow into a healthy token economy. The actions required of ecosystem participants in designing tokens should enable each individual to receive appropriate incentives (rewards) and encourage voluntary participation in taking this action. Also, all ecosystem participants must design to make the token ecosystem self-sustainable by generating profits. For example, in Bitcoin's proof-of-work method, mining is designed as a desirable behavior. Token-based services should be designed to induce multiple engagements, to design penalties for undesirable behavior, and to take into account evolutionary development potentials. Besides, the economic value of the entire token ecosystem will increase if the value that is designed and designed to take into account the revolutionary Innovation Possibility is greater than the reward amount paid to tokens. This study will contribute to presenting relevant service model by presenting how to design tokens and criteria when establishing blockchain-based service model. Future research is needed to discover new facts through a detailed comparative analysis between Tokennomics models

Touchscreen-based assessment of risky-choice in mice

Addictions are characterized by choices made to satisfy the addiction despite the risk it could produce an adverse consequence. Here, we developed a murine version of a ‘risky decision-making’ task (RDT), in which mice could respond on a touchscreen panel to obtain either a large milkshake reward associated with varying probability of footshock, or a smaller amount of the same reward that was never punished. Results showed that (the following font is incorrectly smaller/subscripted) mice shifted choice from the large to small reward stimulus as shock probability increased. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed more Fos-positive cells in prelimbic cortex (PL) and basal amygdala (BA) after RDT testing, and a strong anti-correlation between infralimbic cortex (IL) activity and choice of the large reward stimulus under likely (75–100 % probability) punishment. These findings establish an assay for risky choice in mice and provide preliminary insight into the underlying neural substrates.

The cortical oscillatory patterns associated with varying levels of reward during an effortful vigilance task

We explored how reward and value of effort shapes performance in a sustained vigilance, reaction time (RT) task. It was posited that reward and value would hasten RTs and increase cognitive effort by boosting activation in the sensorimotor cortex and inhibition in the frontal cortex, similar to the horse-race model of motor actions. Participants performed a series of speeded responses while expecting differing monetary rewards (0 pence (p), 1 p, and 10 p) if they responded faster than their median RT. Amplitudes of cortical alpha, beta, and theta oscillations were analysed using the event-related desynchronization method. In experiment 1 (N = 29, with 12 females), reward was consistent within block, while in experiment 2 (N = 17, with 12 females), reward amount was displayed before each trial. Each experiment evaluated the baseline amplitude of cortical oscillations differently. The value of effort was evaluated using a cognitive effort discounting task (COGED). In both experiments, RTs decreased significantly with higher rewards. Reward level sharpened the increased amplitudes of beta oscillations during fast responses in experiment 1. In experiment 2, reward decreased the amplitudes of beta oscillations in the ipsilateral sensorimotor cortex. Individual effort values did not significantly correlate with oscillatory changes in either experiment. Results suggest that reward level and response speed interacted with the task- and baseline-dependent patterns of cortical inhibition in the frontal cortex and with activation in the sensorimotor cortex during the period of motor preparation in a sustained vigilance task. However, neither the shortening of RT with increasing reward nor the value of effort correlated with oscillatory changes. This implies that amplitudes of cortical oscillations may shape upcoming motor responses but do not translate higher-order motivational factors into motor performance.

Analyzing Bitcoin transaction fees using a queueing game model

In the Bitcoin system, large numbers of miners invest massive computing resources in the blockchain mining process in pursuit of Bitcoin rewards, which are comprised of a fixed amount of system-generated new block reward and a variable amount of user-submitted transaction fees. Here, transaction fees serve as the important tuner for the Bitcoin system to define the priorities in users’ transaction confirmation. In this paper, we aim to study the priority rule for queueing transactions based on their associated fees, and in turn users’ strategies in formulating their fees in the transaction confirmation game. We first establish a full-information game-theoretical model to study users’ equilibrium fee decisions; and then discuss three types of Nash equilibria, under which no, all and some users submit transaction fees. Moreover, we conduct empirical studies and design computational experiments to validate our theoretical analysis. The experimental results show that (1) users’ fee decisions will be significantly affected by their waiting time; (2) the reduced time costs, instead of transaction values, are the basis for users to evaluate their revenues; (3) longer waiting time and higher unit time cost drive users to submit transaction fees in pursuit of desired priorities; (4) with the required transaction fee increasing, the proportion of fee-submitting users decreases slowly at first followed by a sharp decline, and over-high required fees will make the transaction confirmation game end up with no users submitting fees.

Dissociating self-generated volition from externally-generated motivation.

Insight into motivational processes may be gained by examining measures of willingness to exert effort for rewards, which have been linked to neuropsychiatric symptoms of anhedonia and apathy. However, while much work has focused on the development of models of motivation based on classic tasks of externally-generated levels of effort for reward, there has been less focus on the question of self-generated motivation or volition. We developed a task that aims to capture separate measures of self-generated and externally-generated motivation, with two task variants for physical and cognitive effort, and sought to test and validate this measure in two populations of healthy volunteers (N = 27 and N = 28). Similar to previous reports, a sigmoid function represented a better overall fit to the effort-reward data than a linear or Weibull model. Individual sigmoid function shapes were governed by two free parameters: bias (the amount of reward needed for effort initiation) and reward insensitivity (the amount of increase in reward needed to accelerate effort expenditure). For both physical and cognitive effort, bias was higher in the self-generated condition, indicating reduced self-generated volitional effort initiation, compared to externally-generated effort initiation, across effort domains. Bias against initial effort initiation in the self-generated condition was related to a specific dimensional measure of anticipatory anhedonia. For physical effort only, reward insensitivity was also higher in the self-generated condition compared to the externally-generated motivation condition, indicating lower self-generated effort acceleration. This work provides a novel objective measure of self-generated motivation that may provide insights into mechanisms of anhedonia and related symptoms.

A Dual Reward-Place Association Task to Study the Preferential Retention of Relevant Memories in Rats.

Memories of past events and common knowledge are critical to flexibly adjust one’s future behavior based on prior experiences. The formation and the transformation of these memories into a long-lasting form are supported by a dialogue between populations of neurons in the cortex and the hippocampus. Not all experiences are remembered equally well or equally long. It has been demonstrated experimentally in humans that memory strength positively relates to the behavioral relevance of the associated experience. Behavioral paradigms that test the selective retention of memory in rodents would enable further investigation of the neuronal mechanisms at play. We developed a novel paradigm to follow the repeated acquisition and retrieval of two contextually distinct, yet concurrently learned, food-place associations in rats. We demonstrated the use of this paradigm by varying the amount of reward associated with the two locations. After delays of 2 h or 20 h, rats showed better memory performance for experience associated with large amount of reward. This effect depends on the level of spatial integration required to retrieve the associated location. Thus, this paradigm is suited to study the preferential retention of relevant experiences in rats.

Interplay between Constraints and Rewards in Innovation Tournaments: Implications for Participation

In this study, we examine how the monetary rewards and competitive constraints that organizers of innovation tournaments incorporate are associated with participation. These two aspects of innovation tournaments are crucial because they represent critical design decisions that the organizers must make beforehand. We show that the reward amount is negatively associated with participation, while the presence of competitive constraints, which “make the competitive landscape less asymmetric”, is positively associated with participation. Furthermore, the study shows that competitive constraints moderate the negative association between reward amount and participation. These findings provide insights into contestant motivation as well as the interdependencies between tournament design choices.

The hippocampus encodes delay and value information during delay-discounting decision making.

The hippocampus, a region critical for memory and spatial navigation, has been implicated in delay discounting, the decline in subjective reward value when a delay is imposed. However, how delay information is encoded in the hippocampus is poorly understood. Here, we recorded from CA1 of mice performing a delay-discounting decision-making task, where delay lengths, delay positions, and reward amounts were changed across sessions, and identified subpopulations of CA1 neurons that increased or decreased their firing rate during long delays. The activity of both delay-active and -suppressed cells reflected delay length, delay position, and reward amount; but manipulating reward amount differentially impacted the two populations, suggesting distinct roles in the valuation process. Further, genetic deletion of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor in hippocampal pyramidal cells impaired delay-discount behavior and diminished delay-dependent activity in CA1. Our results suggest that distinct subclasses of hippocampal neurons concertedly support delay-discounting decisions in a manner that is dependent on NMDA receptor function.

Computational Mechanisms of Effort and Reward Decisions in Patients With Depression and Their Association With Relapse After Antidepressant Discontinuation

Nearly 1 in 3 patients with major depressive disorder who respond to antidepressants relapse within 6 months of treatment discontinuation. No predictors of relapse exist to guide clinical decision-making in this scenario. To establish whether the decision to invest effort for rewards represents a persistent depression process after remission, predicts relapse after remission, and is affected by antidepressant discontinuation. This longitudinal randomized observational prognostic study in a Swiss and German university setting collected data from July 1, 2015, to January 31, 2019, from 66 healthy controls and 123 patients in remission from major depressive disorder in response to antidepressants prior to and after discontinuation. Study recruitment took place until January 2018. Discontinuation of antidepressants. Relapse during the 6 months after discontinuation. Choice and decision times on a task requiring participants to choose how much effort to exert for various amounts of reward and the mechanisms identified through parameters of a computational model. A total of 123 patients (mean [SD] age, 34.5 [11.2] years; 94 women [76%]) and 66 healthy controls (mean [SD] age, 34.6 [11.0] years; 49 women [74%]) were recruited. In the main subsample, mean (SD) decision times were slower for patients (n = 74) compared with controls (n = 34) (1.77 [0.38] seconds vs 1.61 [0.37] seconds; Cohen d = 0.52; P = .02), particularly for those who later relapsed after discontinuation of antidepressants (n = 21) compared with those who did not relapse (n = 39) (1.95 [0.40] seconds vs 1.67 [0.34] seconds; Cohen d = 0.77; P < .001). This slower decision time predicted relapse (accuracy = 0.66; P = .007). Patients invested less effort than healthy controls for rewards (F1,98 = 33.970; P < .001). Computational modeling identified a mean (SD) deviation from standard drift-diffusion models that was more prominent for patients than controls (patients, 0.67 [1.56]; controls, -0.71 [1.93]; Cohen d = 0.82; P < .001). Patients also showed higher mean (SD) effort sensitivity than controls (patients, 0.31 [0.92]; controls, -0.08 [1.03]; Cohen d = 0.51; P = .05). Relapsers differed from nonrelapsers in terms of the evidence required to make a decision for the low-effort choice (mean [SD]: relapsers, 1.36 [0.35]; nonrelapsers, 1.17 [0.26]; Cohen d = 0.65; P = .02). Group differences generally did not reach significance in the smaller replication sample (27 patients and 21 controls), but decision time prediction models from the main sample generalized to the replication sample (validation accuracy = 0.71; P = .03). This study found that the decision to invest effort was associated with prospective relapse risk after antidepressant discontinuation and may represent a persistent disease process in asymptomatic remitted major depressive disorder. Markers based on effort-related decision-making could potentially inform clinical decisions associated with antidepressant discontinuation.

Model and Algorithm for Dependent Activity Schedule Optimization Combining with BIM

The project duration can be shortened by overlapping construction activities. However, the continuous changing of the environment tends to cause problems such as rework and the failure of the overlapping plan. In order to solve these problems, communication strategies for the overlapping of dependent activities are first introduced and optimized from a revenue perspective. We first consider the different maturities of upstream activity before and after the overlapping, the downstream sensitivity which is decided by involving communication strategies, and the learning and error‐correcting ability of workers. Then, the overlap and communication strategies are decided by calculating the maximum revenue using Monte Carlo simulation and MATLAB based on overlap cost, communication cost, rework cost, and reward amount. Finally, the algorithm and BIM are combined to provide a visual overlap plan and dynamic control platform framework. This research is valuable for practitioners as it provides a dynamic overlap plan which can maximize the revenue in changing the environment and ensure the duration of the project. This research also provides researchers a new insight into combining overlap problems and BIM technology.

Active Supervision Strategies of Online Ride-Hailing Based on the Tripartite Evolutionary Game Model

As a very important passenger transportation model in the era of sharing economy, the online ride-hailing (ORH) has also caused new traffic management issues while improving resource allocation. Although regulations and policies have imposed macro-level supervision on the ORH market, they have not prevented some drivers from cheating on platforms' subsidies and jeopardizing passengers' safeties at the source. In order to realize the voluntary and sustainable ORH supervision, and enable relevant participants to actively supervise, report and comply with rules, this paper constructs an evolutionary game model among the platform, passengers and drivers. Based on the bounded rationality and expected benefits of the participants, the main factors determining the optimal strategies are analyzed. At the same time, the evolution path and the equilibrium state of the three game groups are studied by numerical simulation. The results show that important factors of realizing the benign supervision of ORH include minimizing the reporting costs of passengers, making penalties for drivers who violate the rules far greater than the illicit incomes, realizing the platform supervision costs less than the sum of penalty incomes and positive social effects. In addition, improving rewards for reporting can promote the continuity of passengers' participation but increase the possibility of false reports. Therefore, the platform needs to consider the cost of identifying false information when designing the reward amount.

Neural activity in human ventromedial prefrontal cortex reflecting the intention to save reward.

Saving behavior usually requires individuals to perform several consecutive choices before collecting the final reward. The overt behavior is preceded by an intention to perform an appropriate choice sequence. We studied saving sequences for which each participant rated the intention numerically as willingness to save. Each sequence resulted in a specific reward amount and thus had a particular value for the participant, which we assessed with a Becker-DeGroot-Marschak auction-like mechanism. Using functional MRI, we found that blood-oxygen-level-dependent signals in human ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) correlated with the participant’s stated intention before each choice sequence. An adjacent vmPFC region showed graded activation that reflected the value of the sequence. These results demonstrate an involvement of vmPFC in intentional processes preceding sequential economic choices.

Decomposing the effort paradox in reward processing: Time matters

Effort expenditure not only discounts reward value prospectively but also accrues reward value retrospectively. To decompose the effort paradox in reward processing, the current event-related potential study investigated the neural dynamics underlying effects of effort expenditure on subsequent reward processing. Participants exerted one of two levels of effort to obtain an opportunity of winning a high or low amount of monetary reward, and we focused on electrophysiological activity during the anticipatory and consummatory phases of reward processing. During the anticipatory phase, the stimulus-preceding negativity was enhanced when potential high rewards were anticipated, but this reward effect disappeared following high-effort expenditure. During the consummatory phase, feedback-related ERPs were increased for high relative to low rewards, and this reward effect was enlarged following effort expenditure during the early stage (200–300 ms) as indexed by the reward positivity but not the late stage (400–600 ms) as indexed by the P3. Our findings provide a strong support for the psychological contrast theory and indicate that time matters in decomposing the effort paradox for reward processing such that effort expenditure reduces reward sensitivity during the anticipatory phase but enhances reward sensitivity during the consummatory phase.

Kontekstualisasi Pemahaman Hadis tentang Keutamaan Membunuh Tokek

This article analyzes the hadith about the Prophet's order to kill a lizard. If at a glance, this hadist seems contradictory to Q.S: Al-A'raf: 56 that is the prohibition of damaging natural balance. In terms of the command to kill animals is one of the forms of devastation. Meanwhile, the facts of science show that lizards are useful in alternative medicine. Thus, the editor of hadist seems contrary to the verses of the Qur'an and scientific facts. The settlement is carried out by taking step of the research method of Thematic Hadist (maudhu'iy). The author compiles data from various canonical and non-canonical hadist book. As a result, it has three variants. First, it is explain the order of killing lizards. Second, it explains the quantity of reward for killing lizards (wazagh). Third, it contains information that lizards (wazagh) is a nasty animal, which means an animal that is bothersome and hostile to humans.The scholars of Hadist states this hadist can be practiced, because the law is suppressed by hadist’s validity of killing 5 nasty animals. However, a review of the health and medical aspects, it shows that the lizard is beneficial for curing certain diseases. If the lizard is killed with the reason that has been stated by the scholars that it is killed because the animal is in vain, then the understanding is no longer relevant in the present. So that, a more precise understanding is to look at the hadith's essential inspiration that the Prophet SAW states "killed" is the nature of wickedness, which is symbolized through the lizards.

The degree of the uncertain reward and customer engagement

Purpose As value co-creation has become a critical strategy for companies to gain competitive advantage, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the degree of the uncertain reward (DUR) and its impact on customer engagement (CE), particularly in the promotion stage, which has not been sufficiently explored. Further, optimistic estimation (OE) is examined as an underlying mechanism of the uncertain reward effect, as well as the impact of combining this with other marketing strategies: the controllable lottery and the delayed reward. Design/methodology/approach Three studies were conducted to examine the influence of DUR on CE, which included online experiments and a laboratory experiment. In total, 337 participants were recruited from China and the USA to enhance the study’s reliability and validity. Findings The research demonstrated that a high-degree uncertain reward led to less OE than a low-degree uncertain reward (LDUR), which subsequently decreased CE (Study 1). However, when other marketing strategies were combined – the controllable lottery (Study 2) and time-delay reward strategy (Study 3) – the uncertain reward effect was reversed (Study 2) or attenuated (Study 3). Research limitations/implications The current research only presents two possible reward amounts and independently explores the influence of two popular marketing strategies. Future research can explore customers’ responses to engagement when they face multiple rewards and thoroughly investigate the influence of other social or psychological factors. Practical implications Firms could apply an LDUR to enhance CE effects. Furthermore, this could be done at a low cost by empowering customers’ controllability. Nonetheless, firms should be cautious with trade-offs when using time-delay reward strategies. Social implications The research contributes to establishing networks of customer–company and interpersonal relationships, as well as fostering closer social ties and social harmony. Originality/value This research offers not only initial research on CE in the promotion stage, but also a novel psychological perspective in CE literature. Meanwhile, the study provides substantial value in guiding managers to effectively transform customers into value co-creators.

MEMAHAMI BIROKRAT SEBAGAI PELAYAN PUBLIK DALAM TINJAUAN KOMUNIKASI ORGANISASI

It is no longer a public secret if in Indonesia from the beginning until now it always faces serious obstacles from the bureaucracy. The attitude and behavior of bureaucrats also greatly affect the implementation of tasks following the existing situation. In many cases, the attitude of the bureaucrat will influence its behavior. There are three types of bureaucrats: operator, manager, and executive. Executive behavior in the local public bureaucracy in Indonesia has experienced significant changes, especially in recruiting new employees, which is also very much influenced by family law. This means that employee recruitment is intended to accommodate family, relatives or friends with a certain amount of reward. Executive behavior that always wants to add subordinates. Organizational communication becomes important when the behavior of bureaucrats adopts and spreads new values in the organization, especially the organization in providing services to the public.Keywords: Organization Communication, Publik Bureaucracy, Bureaucratic Behavior.

Online Quality-Aware Incentive Mechanism for Mobile Crowd Sensing with Extra Bonus

Mobile crowd sensing is a new paradigm that enables smart mobile devices to collect and share various types of sensing data in urban environments. However, new challenges arise: one is how to evaluate the quality of data each mobile user potentially is capable of providing; another is how to allocate a satisfactory yet profitable amount of reward to mobile users in order to keep them participating in crowd sensing tasks. In this paper, we first introduce a mathematical model for characterizing quality of sensing data to be contributed by mobile users. Then, we present a utility function and formulate an optimization problem for the platform, who recruits participants to contribute sensing data, to maximize the amount of high quality sensing data under a limited task budget. We next present an effective and quality-aware incentive mechanism to solve this problem for online scenarios where participants may arrive or leave at any random time. Moreover, the proposed incentive mechanism allows the platform to provide selected participants with an extra bonus according to task completion level and their previous performance to motivate them further. We formally show the proposed mechanism has the desirable properties of truthfulness, individual rationality, budgetary feasibility, and computational efficiency. We compare the proposed scheme with existing methods via simulation using a real dataset. Extensive simulation results well justify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed approach, e.g, compared with another online method “OMG”, the gap to the optimum for our proposed Online-QIM approach is reduce by 33.3 percent when budget $B = 1000$B=1000.

The effect of 5-HT1A receptor antagonist on reward-based decision-making.

When choosing the best action from several alternatives, we compare each value that depends on the balance between benefit and cost. Previous studies have shown that animals and humans with low brain serotonin (5-HT) level tend to choose smaller immediate reward. We used a decision-making schedule task to investigate whether 5-HT1A receptor is responsible for the decisions related to reward. In this task, the monkeys chose either of two different alternatives that were comprised of 1-4 drops of liquid reward (benefit) and 1-4 repeats of a color discrimination trial (workload cost), then executed the chosen schedule. By the administration of 5-HT1A antagonist, WAY100635, the choice tendency did not change, however, the sensitivity to the amount of reward in the schedule part was diminished. The 5-HT1A could have a role in maintaining reward value to keep track with the promised reward rather than modulating workload discounting of reward value.