Setting the Occasion for Suboptimal Choice

Occasion setting occurs when a stimulus effectively modulates the relationship between a conditioned stimulus and reinforcement-specifically, when behavior is elicited in response to a conditioned stimulus when an occasion setter is present but not in its absence.In the target article "Are You Studying Occasion Setting?A Review for Inquiring Minds," Leising et al. ( 2025) extensively review many testing procedures in which occasion setters are present to highlight the importance of their presence and impact on performance.In this commentary, we broaden this discussion by revisiting a suboptimal choice procedure and reframing it using the lens of occasion setting.We propose that there are stimuli within this choice task that serve as occasion setters for behavior.Using this interpretation of the suboptimal choice procedure illuminates a potential explanation for why a suboptimal preference has been observed by pigeons but not by human participants.