Statistical context dictates the relationship between feedback-related EEG signals and learning
- Brown University, United States
- Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Abstract
Learning should be adjusted according to the surprise associated with observed outcomes but calibrated according to statistical context. For example, when occasional changepoints are expected, surprising outcomes should be weighted heavily to speed learning. In contrast, when uninformative outliers are expected to occur occasionally, surprising outcomes should be less influential. Here we dissociate surprising outcomes from the degree to which they demand learning using a predictive inference task and computational modeling. We show that the P300, a stimulus-locked electrophysiological response previously associated with adjustments in learning behavior, does so conditionally on the source of surprise. Larger P300 signals predicted greater learning in a changing context, but less learning in a context where surprise was indicative of a one-off outlier (oddball). Our results suggest that the P300 provides a surprise signal that is interpreted by downstream learning processes differentially according to statistical context in order to appropriately calibrate learning across complex environments.
Data availability
All analysis code has been made available on GitHub (https://github.com/learning-memory-and-decision-lab/NassarBrucknerFrank_eLife_2019.git). All behavioral and EEG data has been made available on Dryad (doi:10.5061/dryad.570pf8n).
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Data from: Statistical context dictates the relationship between feedback-related EEG signals and learningDryad Digital Repository, doi:10.5061/dryad.570pf8n.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Institute of Mental Health (F32MH102009)
- Matthew R Nassar
National Institute on Aging (K99AG054732)
- Matthew R Nassar
National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH080066-01)
- Michael J Frank
National Science Foundation (1460604)
- Michael J Frank
German Academic Exchange Service London (Promos travel grant)
- Rasmus Bruckner
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Human subjects: Informed consent was obtained from each participant in the study and all procedures were performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. All procedures were approved by the Brown University Institutional Review Board (Brown University Federal Wide Assurance #00004460).
Copyright
© 2019, Nassar et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Statistical context dictates the relationship between feedback-related EEG signals and learning
eLife 8:e46975.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.46975
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