The effect of casino-like sensory visual augmentation of rewards on decision making
Reward-paired audio-visual stimuli can affect our subjective value for rewards even when rewards are small. This effect is most pronounced in casino games, where flashing lights and sounds inflate the subjective value of wins, while decreasing risk of loss. We set out to study how value learning in a probabilistic bandit task may be affected by reward-paired audio-visual stimuli. Inspired by behavioral observations in casinos, we hypothesized that sensory-augmented-rewards (SAR) will be valued more than non sensory augmented rewards of the same schedule. We will present preliminary results that demonstrate that mice learn lever presses leading to probabilistic outcomes. By keeping the SAR probability at 50% and modulating non-SAR probability between 0-100%, we tested if animals have changing indifference points for SAR as compared to higher probability rewards. Additional experiments will assess brain dopamine mechanisms that facilitate behavioral preference for SARs.