ArticleNature communications2015
Contextual modulation of value signals in reward and punishment learning.
Article in Nature communications, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 141 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
141 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Upward and downward comparisons across monetary and status domains.Human brain mapping · 2020Pooled it
- Decomposing the effects of context valence and feedback information on speed and accuracy during reinforcement learning: a meta-analytical approach using diffusion decision modeling.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2019Pooled it
- Levodopa does not affect expression of reinforcement learning in older adults.Scientific reports · 2019Trial
- Article
- Context-Aware Evidence-Gated Plasticity for Multi-Goal Learning in Spiking Neural Networks.Research square · 2026Article
- Video game practice is associated with enhanced value-guided exploitation under probabilistic uncertainty.Psychological research · 2026Article
- Competing value signals impair reward-learning via dopaminergic mechanisms and increase exploration.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Context-Aware Evidence-Gated Plasticity for Multi-Goal Learning in Spiking Neural Networks.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Attention modulates value normalization in human reinforcement learning by shaping reward encoding.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Reference-point dependent reinforcement learning in humans and rats.Nature communications · 2026Article
- AI-Discovered Cognitive Models Reveal Novel Insights into Human and Animal Learning.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Context induces distortions in value representations across multiple elicitation methods and learning modalities.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Hybrid neural-cognitive models reveal how memory shapes human reward learning.Nature human behaviour · 2026Article
- Building Goal-Directed Cognitive Graphs.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- A reinforcement learning and sequential sampling model constrained by gaze data.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Motivational state determines error-sensitive learning modes in visual perceptual learning.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2026Article
- Brain network reconfiguration during reward prediction error processing.Network neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- On the origin of the reward function: Exploring the role of conditioned reinforcement and social learning.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2025Review
- Non-invasive ultrasonic neuromodulation of the human nucleus accumbens impacts reward sensitivity.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Action repetition biases choice in context-dependent decision-making.Communications psychology · 2025Article
81 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Compared with reward seeking, punishment avoidance learning is less clearly understood at both the computational and neurobiological levels. Here we demonstrate, using computational modelling and fMRI in humans, that learning option values in a relative--context-dependent--scale offers a simple computational solution for avoidance learning. The context (or state) value sets the reference point to which an outcome should be compared before updating the option value. Consequently, in contexts with an overall negative expected value, successful punishment avoidance acquires a positive value, thus reinforcing the response. As revealed by post-learning assessment of options values, contextual influences are enhanced when subjects are informed about the result of the forgone alternative (counterfactual information). This is mirrored at the neural level by a shift in negative outcome encoding from the anterior insula to the ventral striatum, suggesting that value contextualization also limits the need to mobilize an opponent punishment learning system.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.