UCL Discovery

Abstract

To determine what factors influence motivated behavior, we have worked to identify behavioral and neurophysiological correlates related to motivation. In these studies we have used behavioral paradigms in which monkeys must carry ou one or more simple operant behavioral trials, detecting when a visual target changes from red-green, which when done correctly, allows that monkey to either move to another identical trial or obtain a reward. Visual cues appearing at the beginning of the trials indicate whether a trial will be rewarded, or not. Monkeys react to these Cues, with the number of errors related to how long in the future the reward will be, but also contingent on how much work has been already completed. The perfonnance, both overall, and dynamical can be nicely modeled with simple modifications of ternporal difference learning models.