Avoiding Regret; From Going to Bed Hungry to Fighting the COVID-19 Pandemic

  The APA Dictionary of Psychology defines regret as “an emotional response to membrane of a past state, condition, or experience that one wishes had been different.” Brian M. Sweis, Mark J. Thomas, and A. David Redish define regret in a similar manner by stating in their article “Mice learn to avoid regret” that “regret can be defined as the subjective experience of recognizing that one has made a mistake…” (Sweis et al., 2018). In the world we live in, it is safe to assume that every person has in some form, be it a minor situation or a life-changing situation, has experienced the subjective experience of regret. Before January 2020, regret may have been the result of various different experiences, being different based on each individuals daily “normal” life. However, ever since the hit of the COVID-19 pandemic, the experience of regret has been often times the aftermath of an action done to result in the complication of one’s own health or the health of their family and peers.  Often after such experiences an individual realizes the seriousness of the current pandemic and regrets their decisions. 

In Sweis et al. article “Mice learn to avoid regret,” researchers create a Restaurant Row situation after training 31 mice prior to the start of the experiment. During the duration of the experiment, lasting 70 consecutive days, mice are put through a Restaurant Row decision making task and this task is the determinant on whether or not the mouse is going to sleep hungry or on a full stomach. In the design, there were four corner with four different flavors of food pellet and each corner was had an offer zone, where the initial decision would be made to either enter the wait zone to wait for the food, or skip and try to go to another food corner. This decision was based on the tone when the mouse entered the offer area as a high pitch meant that the mice would have to wait a longer period of time and a descending pitch meant that the mice would receive the food soon. Through this experiment which was run numerous consecutive days Sweis et al. found evidence for mice adapting to this scarcity of food and developing better decision making skills to avoid the regret of having to go to sleep on an empty stomach. The mice were seen maximizing their reinforcement rates and trying to do everything to get food. There was even an observation made examining the action of mice to wait longer periods for food flavors they desired and liked rather than waiting for food flavors they did not like. This research study suggested the mice, like humans, aim to avoid regret by manipulating and modifying their strategies and decision making skills.

In comparison to this research article by Sweis et al. that explains how nonhuman animals also undergo the subjective experience of regret and learn to avoid regret, CBS NEWS also published an article on regret during this COVID-19 pandemic. In the article “ICU nurses who treat COVID-19 patients: ‘It’s had to watch someone struggling to breathe and see the regret that they have,’” Caroline Lington writes about the experience of a traveling ICU nurse Lydia Mobley who served in the Navy during the pandemic. Mobley expresses her sympathy for patient with COVID-19 and how there are many individuals who do not believe COVID-19 is not a real pandemic until they fall into the trap of testing positive for COVID-19. In comparison to Sweis et al research, these patients can be compared to the mice who do not believe this Restaurant Row task is the only means for food or are genuinely unaware of the situation around them. However, the regret comes into play when the mice are put to bed hungry that night or, comparably, when that individual tests positive for COVID-19. Mobley expresses how the regret can come from a variety of “mistakes” including “not wearing a mask, or maybe not going to a part, or maybe not going to that wedding or not going to that church service” (Mobley 2020). This feeling of regret is the aftermath of an action that would have been a completely safe and enjoyable event a year ago but today is the result of one’s hospitalization or even worse death. Like mentioned in the CBS NEWS article, the realization may not come until the first encounter of the regret just like how a mouse may not realize its need to strategize for food until it regrets that first night with no food. 

    However, after the regret comes in the patient or the mouse’s life, most will attempt to act upon this regret and change their strategies or decision-making skills to avoid that regret. For example, in the article “Mice learn to avoid regret,” the mice were observed to have changed their wait time duration for the food pellet and attempt to strategize for how they will fill their stomach and even alter their wait time depending on their food flavor preferences. Comparably, like mentioned in the article “ICU nurses who treat COVID-19 patients: ‘It’s had to watch someone struggling to breathe and see the regret that they have,’” through regrets and learning how to avoid regrets, individuals may alter their lifestyle in this pandemic to avoid the regret of losing a loved one or being in the hospital. The changes can be simple ones like wearing a mask or maintaining social distancing protocols; however, these simple changes can lead to the avoidance of testing positive with COVID-19, analogously having to go to bed with food. As further studies are conducted on other nonhuman animals, the concept of  regret and an individual’s desire to avoid regret can be furthered in other animals and more developed for humans as well.

Citations:

Apa dictionary of psychology. (n.d.). Retrieved March 04, 2021, from https://dictionary.apa.org/regret

Sweis, B. M., Thomas, M. J., & Redish, A. D. (2018). Mice learn to avoid regret. PLOS Biology, 16(6). doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2005853

Linton, C. (2020, November 15). ICU nurse who TREATS Covid-19 Patients: "It's hard to watch someone struggling to breathe and see the regret that they have". Retrieved March 04, 2021, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/icu-nurse-who-treats-covid-19-patients-its-hard-to-watch-someone-struggling-to-breathe-and-see-the-regret-that-they-have/