Fast rule switching and slow rule updating in a perceptual categorization task

Abstract
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Abstract

To adapt to a changing world, we must be able to switch between rules already learned and, at other times, learn rules anew. Often we must do both at the same time, switching between known rules while also constantly re-estimating them. Here, we show these two processes, rule switching and rule learning, rely on distinct but intertwined computations, namely fast inference and slower incremental learning. To this end, we studied how monkeys switched between three rules. Each rule was compositional, requiring the animal to discriminate one of two features of a stimulus and then respond with an associated eye movement along one of two different response axes. By modeling behavior we found the animals learned the axis of response using fast inference (rule switching) while continuously re-estimating the stimulus-response associations within an axis (rule learning). Our results shed light on the computational interactions between rule switching and rule learning, and make testable neural predictions for these interactions.

Data availability

Codes and data supporting the findings of this study is available on GitHub (https://github.com/buschman- lab/FastRuleSwitchingSlowRuleUpdating).

Article and author information

Author details

Flora Bouchacourt

Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-8893-0143
Sina Tafazoli

Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Marcelo Mattar

Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Timothy J Buschman

Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-1298-2761
Nathaniel D Daw

Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, United States

For correspondence
ndaw@princeton.edu

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-5029-1430

Funding

U.S. Army Research Office (ARO W911NF-16-1-047)

Nathaniel D Daw

NIMH (R01MH129492)

Timothy J Buschman

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All experimental procedures were approved by Princeton University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (protocol #3055) and were in accordance with the policies and procedures of the National Institutes of Health.

Copyright

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.