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Abstract:
Humans and other animals are excellent at improving their otherwise unfortunate lot in life - often described in terms of optimizing utility. However, understanding utility in a non-circular manner is surprisingly difficult. One example of the complexity is the important psychological and neural distinction made most prominently by Kent Berridge between concepts of ‘liking’ and ‘wanting’, with the former characterizing an immediate hedonic experience; and the latter the motivational force associated with that experience. How could it be that we could `want’ something that we do not `like’, or `like’ something that we would not be willing to exert any effort to acquire? Furthermore, what role do neural systems associated with reinforcement such as the neuromodulator dopamine play in these concepts? Here, we suggest a framework for answering these questions through the medium of reinforcement learning. We consider ‘liking’ to provide immediate, but preliminary and ultimately cancellable, information about the true, long-run worth of a good. Such preliminary estimates, viewed through the lens of what is known as potential-based shaping, generally facilitate the temporally complex learning problems that we face.
