Dr Philip Jean-Richard Dit Bressel (University of NSW)

Title: A cross-species paradigm for exploring persistent detrimental behaviour

Abstract:

A basic precept in psychology is that actions with positive consequences are repeated while actions with negative consequences are avoided. However, individuals vary immensely in their tendency to cease detrimental actions, with many persisting in self-destructive behaviour. Tasks used to study this often fail to reveal psychological roots for these inter-individual differences. We have sought to address this via rodent and human versions of a conditioned punishment task. Across studies, we have found that avoidance of negative consequences is bimodally distributed across individuals. We have found these differences in avoidance are not readily attributable to differences in appetitive or aversive motivation, nor differences in behavioural control. Rather, avoidance differences were driven by failures in Action-Punisher learning, indicating an overlooked source of maladaptive choices. Factors that interact with these tendencies, broader implications, and future directions will be discussed. 

Bio:

Dr Philip Jean-Richard Dit Bressel is a Senior Lecturer at UNSW School of Psychology. His lab investigates the psychobiology of learning, decision-making, and behaviour, with a special focus on how we learn and make decisions about actions with negative consequences. His research program leverages complex behavioural tasks across species, precision neuroscience techniques (in vivo pharmacology, optical and genetic approaches for real-time neural measurement and manipulation), and advanced analysis methods.