The transition from goal-directed to habitual forms of instrumental behavior is determined by variables such as the amount of training, schedules of reinforcement, the availability of choices, and exposure to drugs of abuse. Less is known about the control of goal-directed behavior when reinforcement is delayed rather than immediate. In these experiments, we investigated in rats the role of response-outcome contiguity on the control of goal-directed action, assessed through satiety-specific outcome devaluation tests. In Experiment 1 using a within-subjects design we observed goal-directed behavior after 6 days of FR1 training when the outcome was presented immediately following the lever press, but not when it was delayed for 20 s, revealing habit formation with delayed outcomes. Experiment 2 revealed that the habitual control observed with 20-s delays of reinforcement can be prevented if, immediately before each instrumental training session, the rats were exposed to the experimental context in the absence of both the lever and reinforcement. In summary, these experiments suggest that response-outcome contiguity plays an important role in the control of goal-directed actions and habits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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延迟的奖励有利于养成习惯。

从目标导向到惯常形式的工具行为的转变取决于各种变量，例如培训的数量，强化的时间表，选择的可用性以及是否滥用药物。当强化被延迟而不是立即进行时，对于目标导向行为的控制知之甚少。在这些实验中，我们通过饱腹感特定的结果贬值测试评估了大鼠中反应-结果连续性对控制目标定向动作的作用。在使用受试者内部设计的实验1中，我们观察到在进行FR1训练6天后，目标结果是行为，该结果是在按下杠杆后立即显示的，但不是在延迟20 s后才出现，这表明习惯养成会延迟结果。实验2表明，如果在每次器械训练之前立即将大鼠置于既没有杠杆又没有增强的情况下暴露于实验环境，则可以防止以增强延迟20 s观察到的习惯性控制。总之，这些实验表明，反应-结果连续性在控制目标导向的行为和习惯中起着重要作用。（PsycINFO数据库记录（c）2019 APA，保留所有权利）。