Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27993692›Full record

ArticleBehavioural brain research2017

Suboptimal choice in rats: Incentive salience attribution promotes maladaptive decision-making.

Jonathan J Chow, Aaron P Smith, A George Wilson, Thomas R Zentall, Joshua S Beckmann

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Behavioural brain research, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
28citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

28 citing papers in PubMed.

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  6. Do goldfish like to be informed?Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Jonathan J ChowDepartment of Psychology, University of Kentucky, 741 S. Limestone, Lexington, KY, 40536 USA. Electronic address: jonathan.chow@uky.edu.
Aaron P SmithDepartment of Psychology, University of Kentucky, 741 S. Limestone, Lexington, KY, 40536 USA. Electronic address: aarsmith.aps@gmail.com.
A George WilsonDepartment of Psychology, University of Kentucky, 741 S. Limestone, Lexington, KY, 40536 USA; Department of Neurosciences, Medical University of South Carolina, 173 Ashley Avenue, Charleston, SC, 29425 USA. Electronic address: arlington.wilson@gmail.com.
Thomas R ZentallDepartment of Psychology, University of Kentucky, 741 S. Limestone, Lexington, KY, 40536 USA. Electronic address: zentall@uky.edu.
Joshua S BeckmannDepartment of Psychology, University of Kentucky, 741 S. Limestone, Lexington, KY, 40536 USA. Electronic address: joshua.beckmann@uky.edu.

Funding

Training in Drug Abuse Related Research.T32DA016176 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY · PI DWOSKIN, LINDA P · 2004 to 2020
$4.0M
Tonic and Phasic Glutamate Release in Incentive Salience and Cocaine ReinforcemenR00DA033373 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY · PI BECKMANN, JOSHUA · 2014 to 2016
$741k
Tonic and Phasic Glutamate Release in Incentive Salience and Cocaine ReinforcemenK99DA033373 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY · PI BECKMANN, JOSHUA · 2012 to 2013
$263k
NIDA NIH HHS K99 DA033373NIDA NIH HHS R00 DA033373NIDA NIH HHS T32 DA016176
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Stimuli that are more predictive of subsequent reward also function as better conditioned reinforcers. Moreover, stimuli attributed with incentive salience function as more robust conditioned reinforcers. Some theories have suggested that conditioned reinforcement plays an important role in promoting suboptimal choice behavior, like gambling. The present experiments examined how different stimuli, those attributed with incentive salience versus those without, can function in tandem with stimulus-reward predictive utility to promote maladaptive decision-making in rats. One group of rats had lights associated with goal-tracking as the reward-predictive stimuli and another had levers associated with sign-tracking as the reward-predictive stimuli. All rats were first trained on a choice procedure in which the expected value across both alternatives was equivalent but differed in their stimulus-reward predictive utility. Next, the expected value across both alternatives was systematically changed so that the alternative with greater stimulus-reward predictive utility was suboptimal in regard to primary reinforcement. The results demonstrate that in order to obtain suboptimal choice behavior, incentive salience alongside strong stimulus-reward predictive utility may be necessary; thus, maladaptive decision-making can be driven more by the value attributed to stimuli imbued with incentive salience that reliably predict a reward rather than the reward itself.

Indexed as

Adaptation, PsychologicalAnimalsChoice BehaviorConditioning, OperantDecision MakingDiscrimination LearningExploratory BehaviorMaleMotivationOrientationPredictive Value of TestsProbability LearningRatsRats, Sprague-DawleyReaction TimeReinforcement, PsychologyDecision makingGoal trackingIncentive salienceSign trackingSuboptimal choice

Identifiers

PMID27993692
PMCPMC5241164

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Registered trials

None linked

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.