Associative and neural mechanisms underlying extinction of voluntary behaviour

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19H01775
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 10040:Experimental psychology-related
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: Kosaki Yutaka 早稲田大学, 文学学術院, 教授 (80738469)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 消去 / 連合学習 / 道具的行動 / 行動再発 / 動物

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The current project focused on the extinction of learned behaviour, and more specifically potential changes in the associative structure controlling instrumental behaviour during extinction learning. The results from individual experiments in the current project offered some new insight into this issue. First, the renewal of extinguished behaviour turned out to be a result of hierarchical control exerted by contextual stimuli, and not resulted from associative competition between instrumental behaviour and contextual stimuli as envisaged by Rescorla-Wagner (1972) model (i.e., protection from extinction). Second, the associative structure underlying instrumental behaviour, whether S-R habit process or R-O goal-directed process, did not change when the behaviour re-emerged after extinction; both types of behaviour showed renewal effect while maintaining their original associative status.

Free Research Field

実験心理学・学習心理学・行動神経科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

自発行動の消去について理解することは、我々ヒトを含む動物がどのように行動を変容させることで環境に適応するかという、心理学・行動科学が設定しうる最も根源的な問いに答える上で、極めて重要である。同時に、消去が困難であり、また容易に再発する行動、例えば薬物依存や行動嗜癖について基礎的な理解を得て、適切な治療などに応用する上でも重要性が高い。その意味では本研究で得られた成果は、上記の科学的理解、および社会への還元において着実な前進をもたらしたと言える。