Task-based value generalization correlates with positive overgeneralization and bipolar traits
- 1Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Abstract
Positive overgeneralization -- the tendency to generalize from specific successes to broad expectations of future reward -- has been linked to vulnerability to mania. Because positive overgeneralization has only been assessed using self-report measures, we have limited insight into the underlying cognitive process. Here, we introduce a behavioral paradigm that quantifies how reward generalizes to novel stimuli, and characterize individual generalization profiles by fitting psychometric functions to choice data. In an online transdiagnostic study (N = 163), broader task-based generalization was associated with both higher self-reported positive overgeneralization and subclinical bipolar traits. Response times provided converging evidence: a smaller increase in response time as stimuli became less similar to the rewarded stimulus was associated with higher positive overgeneralization. In computational simulations, we show that self-efficacy, operationalized as the relative weight placed on the best and worst available future actions, shapes generalization, with more weight on the best possible action broadening the spread of expected reward to similar states. Together, these findings show that positive overgeneralization can be measured behaviorally, and identify one computational factor that may determine how broadly reward generalizes.
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BibTeX
@misc{li2026taskbased,
title = {{Task-based value generalization correlates with positive overgeneralization and bipolar traits}},
author = {J. Li and M. Malaviya and D. Bennett and A. Radulescu},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.64898/2026.07.12.737635},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.12.737635v2},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Task-based value generalization correlates with positive overgeneralization and bipolar traits
AU - J. Li
AU - M. Malaviya
AU - D. Bennett
AU - A. Radulescu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/12
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.07.12.737635
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.12.737635v2
AB - Positive overgeneralization -- the tendency to generalize from specific successes to broad expectations of future reward -- has been linked to vulnerability to mania. Because positive overgeneralization has only been assessed using self-report measures, we have limited insight into the underlying cognitive process. Here, we introduce a behavioral paradigm that quantifies how reward generalizes to novel stimuli, and characterize individual generalization profiles by fitting psychometric functions to choice data. In an online transdiagnostic study (N = 163), broader task-based generalization was associated with both higher self-reported positive overgeneralization and subclinical bipolar traits. Response times provided converging evidence: a smaller increase in response time as stimuli became less similar to the rewarded stimulus was associated with higher positive overgeneralization. In computational simulations, we show that self-efficacy, operationalized as the relative weight placed on the best and worst available future actions, shapes generalization, with more weight on the best possible action broadening the spread of expected reward to similar states. Together, these findings show that positive overgeneralization can be measured behaviorally, and identify one computational factor that may determine how broadly reward generalizes.
ER -