A very interesting analysis on how reinforcement learning depends on time, both for MDPs and for the psychological basis of RL in the human brain

Elijah A. Petter, Samuel J. Gershman, Warren H. Meck, Integrating Models of Interval Timing and Reinforcement Learning, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Volume 22, Issue 10, 2018, Pages 911-922 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2018.08.004.

We present an integrated view of interval timing and reinforcement learning (RL) in the brain. The computational goal of RL is to maximize future rewards, and this depends crucially on a representation of time. Different RL systems in the brain process time in distinct ways. A model-based system learns ‘what happens when’, employing this internal model to generate action plans, while a model-free system learns to predict reward directly from a set of temporal basis functions. We describe how these systems are subserved by a computational division of labor between several brain regions, with a focus on the basal ganglia and the hippocampus, as well as how these regions are influenced by the neuromodulator dopamine.

Some quotes beyond the abstract:

The Markov assumption also makes explicit the requirements for temporal representation. All temporal dynamics must be captured by the state-transition function, which means that the state representation must encode the time-invariant structure of the environment.

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