Revisiting Automatic Goal Pursuit: Exploring the Value of Goals in Cue-Based Behavior

Human beings perform actions for desirable outcomes to satisfy needs and experience pleasure. Such behavior can be cued by the environment. The goal-directed account for such cue-based behavior has been well-accepted in more recent studies, especially in the field of automatic goal pursuit. However, the understanding and examination of the direct control of goal-directed behavior by the environment are plagued by the absence of clear methods or tests. More specifically, while studies hint at the involvement of goal representations, they need to properly distinguish between behavior activated directly by the cues and behavior mediated by representations of desired outcomes. That is, the cues used in these studies are usually associated with both the goal and the instrumental actions causing them in daily life. Therefore, it is impossible to distinguish between the direct and indirect effects of cues on behavior. To address this issue, in the present thesis, a Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer (PIT) paradigm was used to systematically investigate cue-based goal-directed behavior by comparing cued behavior toward high vs. low-value outcomes. This paradigm allows researchers to separate action-outcome learning from stimulus-outcome learning, meaning that the cue is only indirectly associated with actions that lead to the same outcomes. Hence, any facilitating effect from cue can only be attributed to the indirect effect of outcome representations. More importantly, we investigated such effects on goals with social meaningfulness (e.g., pro-social goals) and what stage of behavior (i.e., action initiation and action persistence) can be influenced by such processes. Results indicate that cues predictive of low or high-valued outcomes prompt instrumental responses when the cue and response share the same outcome. Moreover, the effects are more pronounced for high-value outcomes, indicating a value-based specific PIT effect. For the high-level goal pursuit, we found that a cue predictive of pro-self outcomes facilitates instrumental responses, whereas the specific PIT effect for pro-social outcomes only emerges when participants have the freedom to donate the money. Additionally, we examined the influence of multi-functional outcomes on the PIT effect. Results reveal that cues associated with multi-functional snacks facilitate the corresponding actions, whereas cues associated with single-functional snacks do not. Furthermore, we explored the motivational control effect of cues on goal-directed behavior. The findings demonstrate that participants responded faster to the high-value cue. However, this effect was only found in action initiation and did not translate into action persistence over time. Overall, this research sheds light on the environmental cues that influence human behavior, highlighting the mediating role of outcome value and providing insights into high-level goal pursuit cued by the environment, at least in action initiation. We believe that the PIT paradigm is a valuable tool for investigating the motivational underpinnings of cue-driven goal-directed behavior and, thus, how automatic goal pursuit may emerge

Environmental control of human goal pursuit: Investigating cue-based forced responses in a Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer paradigm.

Effective human action is dependent on goals that are cued in the environment. A major challenge in examining the environmental control of goal-directed behavior concerns a proper test of the mediating role of outcome value in cue-driven behavior. Building on the Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) paradigm, in two experiments we tested a novel forced-choice multiple response task that allowed us to test specific PIT effects by analyzing RTs and accuracy. We hypothesized and found that a Pavlovian cue that was predictive of low or high valued outcomes triggered instrumental responses when the cue and response shared the same outcome compared to when the cue and response did not share the same outcome. Importantly, these effects were more pronounced for high (vs. low) value outcomes, suggesting a value-based specific PIT effect. Theoretical implications and future directions for this novel PIT paradigm are briefly discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved

Environmental control of social goals: using Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer to test cue-based pro-self and pro-social outcome responses

A large amount of literature demonstrates that social behaviour can be triggered by environmental cues. A long-standing debate involves the question of whether such stimuli trigger behaviour directly (i.e. habits) or whether these effects mediate goals. As studies on automatic goal pursuit typically use real-world cues that are already associated with the behaviour and potentially the goal, it is impossible to make strong claims about the nature of the effects. In the present paper, we use a paradigm inspired by the Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) literature to examine how the environment can trigger goal-directed behaviour. Building on the essence of pro-self and pro-social motives in humans, two experiments explored the PIT effect when the outcomes were framed in terms of self- versus other-interest. Participants performed actions to earn money for themselves or a charity. Each outcome was linked to a different cue. The results showed that a cue predictive of self-interest outcomes facilitated responses instrumental in gaining the outcome, while such specific PIT effect for other-interest outcomes only emerged when participants were free to donate the money. We briefly discuss these findings reflecting on whether the PIT effect in our paradigm is indeed sensitive to the value of social goals

Analysis of Tide Variation Monitored by GNSS-MR

Precise monitoring of tide variation is the most of issues in the fields of Global Sea-level Observation System, ocean circulation and global climate change research. With the deepening research and rapid application of GNSS, GNSS-MR based on multipath has gradually become a new means of remote sensing for ground environment (vegetation, soil moisture, snow depth, sea level, volcano and so on) with geodetic GNSS station. By analyzing the characteristics of the onshore GNSS SNR data which is caused by multipath, the inversion principle of GNSS-MR technology based on the SNR data to detect tide variation is given in this paper. The onshore GNSS station of SC02 which is located in Friday Harbor, Washington state of United States, are used to retrieve tide variation. The retrieval result is consistent with the tide gauge which is only 359m to the GNSS station. The bias is about 10cm, and the correlation coefficient is better than 0.98. Preliminary results show that GNSS-MR technology based on onshore CORS station to some extent could be real-time and continuously used to monitor the tide variation. What's more, onshore GNSS stations could be a powerful supplement for tide gauge and be used to extend GNSS application in marine remote sensing field

A detoxification pathway initiated by a nuclear receptor TcHR96h in Tetranychus cinnabarinus (Boisduval).

Understanding the mechanism of detoxification initiation in arthropods after pesticide exposure is crucial. Although the identity of transcription factors that induce and regulate the expression of detoxification genes in response to pesticides is beginning to emerge, whether transcription factors directly interact with xenobiotics is unclear. The findings of this study revealed that a nuclear hormone receptor, Tetranychus cinnabarinus hormone receptor (HR) TcHR96h, regulates the overexpression of the detoxification gene TcGSTm02, which is involved in cyflumetofen resistance. The nuclear translocation of TcHR96h increased after cyflumetofen exposure, suggesting direct binding with cyflumetofen. The direct binding of TcHR96h and cyflumetofen was supported by several independent proteomic assays that quantify interactions with small molecules. Together, this study proposes a model for the initiation of xenobiotic detoxification in a polyphagous agricultural pest. These insights not only provide a better understanding of the mechanisms of xenobiotic detoxification and metabolism in arthropods, but also are crucial in understanding adaptation in polyphagous herbivores

Reducing the Influence of Systematic Errors in Interference Core of Stepped Micro-Mirror Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer: A Novel Calibration Method

The stepped micro-mirror imaging Fourier transform spectrometer (SIFTS) has the advantages of high throughput, compactness, and stability. However, the systematic errors in the interference core of the SIFTS have a significant impact on the interferogram and the reconstructed spectrum. In order to reduce the influence of systematic errors, a transfer error model of the systematic errors in the interference core of the SIFTS is established, and an interferogram and spectrum calibration method is presented, which combines the least squares fitting calibration and the row-by-row fast Fourier transform-inverse fast Fourier transform (FFT-IFFT) flat-field calibration. The experimental results show that the methods can sufficiently reduce the influence of systematic errors in the interference core of the SIFTS, such as the interferogram fringe tilt, the peak position shift of the reconstructed spectrum, and the error of spectral response

Environmental control of human goal pursuit: Investigating cue-based forced responses in a Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer paradigm.

Effective human action is dependent on goals that are cued in the environment. A major challenge in examining the environmental control of goal-directed behavior concerns a proper test of the mediating role of outcome value in cue-driven behavior. Building on the Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) paradigm, in two experiments we tested a novel forced-choice multiple response task that allowed us to test specific PIT effects by analyzing RTs and accuracy. We hypothesized and found that a Pavlovian cue that was predictive of low or high valued outcomes triggered instrumental responses when the cue and response shared the same outcome compared to when the cue and response did not share the same outcome. Importantly, these effects were more pronounced for high (vs. low) value outcomes, suggesting a value-based specific PIT effect. Theoretical implications and future directions for this novel PIT paradigm are briefly discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved