A dynamic field theoretic model of Iowa gambling task performance

Choice behaviour where outcome-contingencies vary or are probabilistic has been the focus of many benchmark tasks of infant to adult development in the psychology literature. Dynamic field theoretic (DFT) investigations of cognitive and behavioural competencies have been used in order to identify parameters critical to infant development. In this paper we report the findings of a DFT model that is able to replicate normal functioning adult performance on the Iowa gambling task (IGT). The model offers a simple demonstration proof of the parsimonious reversal learning alternative to Damasio´s somatic marker explanation of IGT performance. Our simple model demonstrates a potentially important role for reinforcement/reward learning to generating behaviour that allows for advantageous performance. We compare our DFT modelling approach to one used on the A-not-B infant paradigm and suggest that a critical aspect of development lies in the ability to flexibly trade off perseverative versus exploratory behaviour in order to capture statistical choice-outcome contingencies. Finally, we discuss the importance of an investigation of the IGT in an embodied setting where reward prediction learning may provide critical means by which adaptive behavioural reversals can be enacted.