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Down the habit hole: Where habitual and goal-directed control of behavior meet

Chair: Stephan Nebe, Lieneke K. Janssen
University of Zurich; Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg

Mantelabstract: Authors: Stephan Nebe, Lieneke K. Janssen

Behavior is generally thought to rely on either habitual or goal-directed control. Despite its merits in the lab, this strict dichotomy is increasingly questioned, in particular for its use in understanding real-life habits in health and disorders. Together with current criticism of existing experimental “habit” paradigms, the need for more diverse experimental approaches becomes manifest. In this symposium we go down the rabbit hole of research on habitual and goal-directed control and discuss promising (variations of) experimental paradigms, innovative modeling strategies, and imaging approaches to pave the way forward. First, Stephan Nebe will introduce novel tasks, designed to capture value-free habit learning using computational modeling, as well as a test battery of established lab-based and self-report measures of habit, used for validation. Second, Eike Buabang will present EEG correlates of habitual and goal-directed control in a contingency reversal task to explore their interaction. Third, Matthäus Rudolph will show that contingency learning is the outcome of two independent processes, namely automatic retrieval of recent stimulus-response episodes and the application of rule-based knowledge. Fourth, Angela Brands will bridge the gap between lab and life by presenting model-based behavioral and fMRI results from a sequential decision-making task in gambling addiction, which is thought to be characterized by aberrant habitual responding in daily life. To conclude the session, Lieneke Janssen will lead a discussion on current limitations of habit research, challenges that follow a greater diversity in research approaches, not necessarily relying on dichotomous thinking, and impactful next steps in habit research.