title: Mice optimize timed decisions about probabilistic outcomes under deadlines.
abstract: Optimal performance in temporal decisions requires the integration of timing uncertainty with environmental statistics such as probability or cost functions. Reward maximization under response deadlines constitutes one of the most stringent examples of these problems. The current study investigated whether and how mice can optimize their timing behavior in a complex experimental setting under a response deadline in which reward maximization required the integration of timing uncertainty with a geometrically increasing probability/decreasing cost function. Mice optimized their performance under seconds-long response deadlines when the underlying function was reward probability but approached this level of performance when the underlying function was reward cost, only under the assumption of logarithmically scaled subjective costs. The same subjects were then tested in a timed response inhibition task characterized by response rules that conflicted with the initial task, not responding earlier than a schedule as opposed to not missing the deadline. Irrespective of original test groups, mice optimized the timing of their inhibitory control in the second experiment. These results provide strong support for the ubiquity of optimal temporal risk assessment in mice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Koç University, Rumelifeneri Yolu, Sarıyer, 34450, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ezgi
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3103-2446
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gür
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Koç University, Rumelifeneri Yolu, Sarıyer, 34450, Istanbul, Turkey. fbalci@ku.edu.tr.
authors.forename: Fuat
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Balcı
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice / Q000502:physiology*; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D011336:Probability; D013997:Time Factors; D035501:Uncertainty
keywords: Interval timing; Optimality; Reward function; Reward maximization; Timing uncertainty