Project description
Comparing reward and statistical learning
Our visual system grapples with an overload of information, prompting us to focus on critical elements. Reward-mediated learning (RL) aids in prioritising elements associated with rewards, while statistical learning (SL) assists in recognising patterns, such as frequently appearing stimuli. Although they collaborate to guide our attention, they are often studied independently, complicating result comparisons. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the RewSL project compares RL and SL to comprehend how individuals implicitly learn from past experiences. The project will record behavioural, ocular, and electroencephalography measures from healthy human volunteers to evaluate the individual and combined effects of RL and SL on process dynamics. This study promises significant insights into real-world learning mechanisms.
Objective
Our visual system constantly encounters a plethora of stimuli, drastically surpassing our processing capabilities for in-depth analysis. It is hence essential to select the element(s) that is most relevant for our objectives and ignore irrelevant ones. One helpful feature for this is that the world is characterized by numerous regularities making it partially predictable. Our brain can extract these regularities from past experience and use them to efficiently guide target selection. Recently, significant scientific interest has been directed to two forms of learning that focus on two types of regularities: in reward-mediated learning (RL), people learn which stimuli are associated with reward, prioritizing the elements related with high (vs. low) reinforcement. Statistical learning (SL), in contrast, allows people to extract statistical regularities from the environment, such as how often a stimulus occurs in a specific location, optimizing future actions toward the location where the relevant element appears frequently. In everyday life RL and SL coexist and they jointly guide our selection of relevant stimuli. However, they have been mainly addressed separately using divergent tasks, hindering a direct comparison of the results and assessing their combined influence. This project seeks to bridge this gap by systematically comparing RL and SL in a systematic and well-balanced experimental setup to understand how people implicitly learn from their past experience. Using a series of consistent experimental tasks, behavioral, ocular and electroencephalography measures will be recorded from healthy human volunteers to assess the individual and joint effect of RL and SL on the process dynamics from target selection until response execution. Furthermore, employing Markov decision process models, we will compare the observed performance with model performance. Jointly, our results will provide important insights into real-world learning mechanisms.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
9000 Gent
Belgium
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.