Lose-shift responding in humans is promoted by increased cognitive load

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorIvan, Victorita E.
dc.contributor.authorBanks, Parker J.
dc.contributor.authorGoodfellow, Kris
dc.contributor.authorGruber, Aaron J.
dc.date.accessioned2018-10-31T22:48:47Z
dc.date.available2018-10-31T22:48:47Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.descriptionSherpa Romeo green journal; open accessen_US
dc.description.abstractThe propensity of animals to shift choices immediately after unexpectedly poor reinforcement outcomes is a pervasive strategy across species and tasks. We report here on the memory supporting such lose-shift responding in humans, assessed using a binary choice task in which random responding is the optimal strategy. Participants exhibited little lose-shift responding when fully attending to the task, but this increased by 30%–40% in participants that performed with additional cognitive load that is known to tax executive systems. Lose-shift responding in the cognitively loaded adults persisted throughout the testing session, despite being a sub-optimal strategy, but was less likely as the time increased between reinforcement and the subsequent choice. Furthermore, children (5–9 years old) without load performed similarly to the cognitively loaded adults. This effect disappeared in older children aged 11–13 years old. These data provide evidence supporting our hypothesis that lose-shift responding is a default and reflexive strategy in the mammalian brain, likely mediated by a decaying memory trace, and is normally suppressed by executive systems. Reducing the efficacy of executive control by cognitive load (adults) or underdevelopment (children) increases its prevalence. It may therefore be an important component to consider when interpreting choice data, and may serve as an objective behavioral assay of executive function in humans that is easy to measure.en_US
dc.description.peer-reviewYesen_US
dc.identifier.citationIvan, V. E., Banks, P. J., Goodfellow, K. & Gruber, A. J. (2018). Lose-shift responding in humans is promoted by increased cognitive load. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 12(9). doi:10.3389/fnint.2018.00009en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10133/5229
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherFrontiers Mediaen_US
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Neuroscienceen_US
dc.publisher.facultyArts and Scienceen_US
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Lethbridgeen_US
dc.subjectLose-switchen_US
dc.subjectPrefrontal cortexen_US
dc.subjectAdulten_US
dc.subjectChildrenen_US
dc.subjectCognitive loaden_US
dc.subjectWSLSen_US
dc.subjectReflexive response
dc.subjectChoice adaptation
dc.subject.lcshExecutive function (Neuropsychology)
dc.subject.lcshChoice (Psychology)
dc.titleLose-shift responding in humans is promoted by increased cognitive loaden_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Gruber lose-shift responding in humans.pdf
Size:
1.23 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.75 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
Gruber, Aaron