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Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience pp 1–17Cite as

Basal Ganglia: Habit Formation

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Definition

In large part, learning is characterized by the formation of new associations. Habit learning appears to be a form of associative learning that can occur in the absence of awareness of what has been learned. Behaviors that lead to a reward can become habitual with sufficient training. When behaviors are habitual, they can be automatically elicited by antecedent stimuli even when the outcome of the behavior is no longer attractive.

Detailed Description

The Representation of Habits

Fundamentally, habits are associations between stimuli and responses, or S-R associations (Graybiel 2008; Mishkin and Petrie 1984; Packard and Knowlton 2002). For example, when you are confronted with an intersection on your drive to work, this visual stimulus may automatically elicit a left-turn response after years of driving the same route. S-R associations contrast with arbitrary associations between stimuli that we typically think of as declarative learning, such as learning associations...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1563, USA

    Barbara Knowlton

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  1. Barbara Knowlton
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Correspondence to Barbara Knowlton .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Dieter Jaeger

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA

    Ranu Jung

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Knowlton, B. (2014). Basal Ganglia: Habit Formation. In: Jaeger, D., Jung, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_517-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_517-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7320-6

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