Enhancing Ecological Validity in Habit Research via Naturalistic Methods

The motivational control of action refers to the idea that actions are motivated by desired outcomes (goals) or triggered by antecedent cues (habit), governing how we adaptively execute value calculations to navigate our environment. Most research on habits has relied on well-controlled laboratory settings that parse the sensitivity of an instrumental response based on changes in reinforcer value. While significantly contributing to our understanding of motivational control, restricting habit estimates to the lab may be limiting the ecological relevance and generalizability of the findings. This chapter reviews recent advancements in neurobehavioral research that extend the study of habits beyond the lab. We highlight innovative implementations of stimuli with real-world relevance in controlled experiments, as well as efforts to apply lab-based habit measures to real-world settings. We further discuss designs that leverage remote data collection, which show promise in improving the validity of motivational control measures. While capturing human habits and translating this knowledge into clinical practice has been challenging, emerging evidence suggests that increasing ecological validity by harnessing naturalistic methods may bridge the gap between experimental and real-world applications of motivational control research. As these methodologies advance, the potential for developing more robust models of habit formation and clinical interventions grows, offering new opportunities for harnessing habit science in translational applications.