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Its own reward: lessons to be drawn from the reversed-reward contingency paradigm

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Abstract

This is a review of the reversed-reward contingency (RRC) paradigm in animals and the cognitive functions on which it is founded. I shall present the RRC basic paradigm and the ensuing modifications it underwent, the animals tested, the results obtained and the analyses offered within the literature. Then I would the claim that RRC is a case of a compound cognitive behavior, one that is the result of interactions between three other cognitive functions: crude numerical assessment and economic choice (uniting value assignment and behavioral inhibition). I will present data concerning these three fields and will demonstrate how they are both affecting and affected by the findings of the RRC scheme. RRC is treated here as a test case for a broader type of analysis, one which, hopefully, will show that in order to fully understand composite and complex behavior we need to meticulously explore its building blocks and their dynamic interplay.

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Notes

  1. Based on one of my commentators, it should be noted that the objective of Boysen and Berntson was not to train their Ss to master the task in any way possible, as has become the case in later studies.

  2. There were no sex and age differences found in the RRC experiments.

  3. The social system difference argument is reiterated by Suda and Call (2004).

  4. However, Vlamings et al. (2006) and Uher and Call (2008) reported no differences in performance across all four great apes.

  5. It is puzzling that in their concluding paragraph Vlamings et al. claim to have demonstrated that the great apes can master the RRC task without modification.

  6. The lingo in this discourse has many shortcomings and to further complicate matters, in this low extreme of the numerosity assessment scale it is very hard to differentiate number as the salient factor over physical attributes of the stimulus. As noted by one commentator, RNJ is at many times exchangeable with RQJ (relative quantity judgment) but such a term does not exist and RNJ is a cumbersome term. That said the important take home message is that RRC involves a very elementary, low-level numerosity assessment skill, yet still a skill which resides within the realm of numerosity assessment.

  7. It is important to remember that only Boysen et al. subjects were numerosity experienced. However, the interpretation of this fact is not easy, since it is obvious that this did not facilitate spontaneous success.

  8. This is in accord with Beran et al. (2008), see concluding comments.

  9. One referee suggests that the above chance level performance under quality as the salient factor negates the operation of RNJ. Since only one paper addressed this issue I would be hesitant to concur. Drawing upon Padoa-Schioppa et al. (2006) demonstration that economic choice occurs for both quality and quantity I think it is safe to assume that the composite behavioral mechanism that emerged to solve this task can handle both quantity and quality based values.

  10. It is important to note that there is a disagreement as to the specific topographical identification of the OFC since there is a conflict between the definition based upon absolute spatial location and the one incorporating architectonic differentiation within the PFC (Roberts and Wallis 2000).

  11. As duly noted by one of my commentators, in RRC as the smaller array diminishes the less appealing it is to the animal from the get go. This may explain why sets where 0 and 1 are in the “correct” array are more difficult.

  12. Boysen et al. (1996) had worked with stimuli pairs containing an empty set versus a content set, but they do not supply us with specific data that would indicate particular performance.

  13. How a system differentiates between agents of plasticity and agents of canalization originating from the same pool of environmental cues is a complex issue far beyond the scope of this review.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank prof. Eva Jablonka for reviewing the manuscript and offering insightful corrections and guidance. I would also like to thank deeply two of my referees for their thorough reading and highly constructive comments.

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  1. Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Eran M. Shifferman

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Shifferman, E.M. Its own reward: lessons to be drawn from the reversed-reward contingency paradigm. Anim Cogn 12, 547–558 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-009-0215-2

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