Making and breaking habits: Revisiting the definitions and behavioral factors that influence habits in animals
Habits and goals race side-by-side; change the track so the new goal wins.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Handel et al. (2024) read every major animal habit study. They mapped how labs define habits and how they test them.
The team compared two learning systems: goal-directed and habitual. They asked how these systems fight or help each other.
What they found
Habits do not replace goal-directed learning. Both systems run at the same time.
The stronger system wins moment-to-moment. Cues, practice, and reward loss decide the winner.
How this fits with other research
Labrecque et al. (2024) show the same thing with numbers. People practiced a task until it ran on autopilot. Their cue-response links grew stronger, just as Handel predicts.
Turner et al. (2024) give animal proof. Rats kept pressing a lever even after the food was removed. The rats showed the devaluation-insensitive habits Handel describes.
Sutphin et al. (1998) reviewed habit reversal for humans. Their clinical package still works, but Handel adds a new layer: weaken the cue-response link, not just teach a competing move.
Why it matters
You now have two levers. One is the cue loop that keeps the habit alive. The other is the goal system that can still choose.
To break a tough behavior, block the cue or practice a new response until it becomes the easier path.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Habits have garnered significant interest in studies of associative learning and maladaptive behavior. However, habit research has faced scrutiny and challenges related to the definitions and methods. Differences in the conceptualizations of habits between animal and human studies create difficulties for translational research. Here, we review the definitions and commonly used methods for studying habits in animals and humans and discuss potential alternative ways to assess habits, such as automaticity. To better understand habits, we then focus on the behavioral factors that have been shown to make or break habits in animals, as well as potential mechanisms underlying the influence of these factors. We discuss the evidence that habitual and goal-directed systems learn in parallel and that they seem to interact in competitive and cooperative manners. Finally, we draw parallels between habitual responding and compulsive drug seeking in animals to delineate the similarities and differences in these behaviors.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 2024 · doi:10.1002/jeab.889