title: Optimal response rates in humans and rats.
abstract: The analysis of response rates has been highly influential in psychology, giving rise to many prominent theories of learning. There is, however, growing interest in explaining response rates, not as a global response to associations or value, but as a decision about how to space responses in time. Recently, researchers have shown that humans and mice can time a single response optimally; that is, in a way that maximizes reward. Here, we use the well-established differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) timing task to show that humans and rats come close to optimizing reinforcement rate, but respond systematically faster than they should.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive, Linguistics, and Psychological Sciences, Brown University.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Freestone
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Koç University.
authors.forename: Fuat
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Balcı
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Oberlin College.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Simen
authors.affiliation: Cognitive, Linguistics, and Psychological Sciences, Brown University.
authors.forename: Russell M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Church
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011336:Probability; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats / Q000502:physiology*; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012201:Reward; D055815:Young Adult