A Bird in the Hand Isn’t Good for Long

2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Scherbaum ◽  
Simon Frisch ◽  
Maja Dshemuchadse
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
The Other ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Additional Time ◽  
Control Processes ◽  
Folk Wisdom ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract. Folk wisdom tells us that additional time to make a decision helps us to refrain from the first impulse to take the bird in the hand. However, the question why the time to decide plays an important role is still unanswered. Here we distinguish two explanations, one based on a bias in value accumulation that has to be overcome with time, the other based on cognitive control processes that need time to set in. In an intertemporal decision task, we use mouse tracking to study participants’ responses to options’ values and delays which were presented sequentially. We find that the information about options’ delays does indeed lead to an immediate bias that is controlled afterwards, matching the prediction of control processes needed to counter initial impulses. Hence, by using a dynamic measure, we provide insight into the processes underlying short-term oriented choices in intertemporal decision making.

scholarly journals Cognitive Control of Working Memory: A Model-Based Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 721
Author(s):  
Russell J. Boag ◽  
Niek Stevenson ◽  
Roel van Dooren ◽  
Anne C. Trutti ◽  
Zsuzsika Sjoerds ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Decision Time ◽  
Control Processes ◽  
Prepotent Response ◽  
New Information ◽  
Empirical Performance ◽  
Flow Of Information

Working memory (WM)-based decision making depends on a number of cognitive control processes that control the flow of information into and out of WM and ensure that only relevant information is held active in WM’s limited-capacity store. Although necessary for successful decision making, recent work has shown that these control processes impose performance costs on both the speed and accuracy of WM-based decisions. Using the reference-back task as a benchmark measure of WM control, we conducted evidence accumulation modeling to test several competing explanations for six benchmark empirical performance costs. Costs were driven by a combination of processes, running outside of the decision stage (longer non-decision time) and showing the inhibition of the prepotent response (lower drift rates) in trials requiring WM control. Individuals also set more cautious response thresholds when expecting to update WM with new information versus maintain existing information. We discuss the promise of this approach for understanding cognitive control in WM-based decision making.

Hunters, Trappers, and Gatherers of the Sea: a Comparative Study of Fishing Strategies

1973 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. J. Cove
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
British Columbia ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
The Other ◽  
Reward Structure ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Fishing Strategies ◽  
Production Strategies ◽  
Salmon Fishery

This study is a comparison of fishing strategies in three areas: the Newfoundland offshore fishery, the inshore salmon fishery of British Columbia, and an oyster fishery of Cornwall, England. From the Newfoundland fishery, a model was developed to account for differences in risk-taking by fishing captains. The model specified relations between reward structure, technology, and environment that influence captains’ evaluations and, hence, decision-making.The model was then tested in the other fishing contexts. The results indicate that the situational approach to risk-taking can be used for the problem of understanding short-term production strategies. This particular model, however, requires the addition of an historical dimension in order to adequately account for decision-making in all three fisheries.

scholarly journals Linear reinforcement learning in planning, grid fields, and cognitive control

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Payam Piray ◽  
Nathaniel D. Daw
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Linear Approximation ◽  
Nonlinear Model ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Control Engineering ◽  
Future Events ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractIt is thought that the brain’s judicious reuse of previous computation underlies our ability to plan flexibly, but also that inappropriate reuse gives rise to inflexibilities like habits and compulsion. Yet we lack a complete, realistic account of either. Building on control engineering, here we introduce a model for decision making in the brain that reuses a temporally abstracted map of future events to enable biologically-realistic, flexible choice at the expense of specific, quantifiable biases. It replaces the classic nonlinear, model-based optimization with a linear approximation that softly maximizes around (and is weakly biased toward) a default policy. This solution demonstrates connections between seemingly disparate phenomena across behavioral neuroscience, notably flexible replanning with biases and cognitive control. It also provides insight into how the brain can represent maps of long-distance contingencies stably and componentially, as in entorhinal response fields, and exploit them to guide choice even under changing goals.

scholarly journals Competing and Interfering Conflict: Insights from Decision-Making Tasks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu He ◽  
Boyu Qiu ◽  
Yanrong Cheng ◽  
Ting Liu ◽  
Sixian Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Flanker Task ◽  
Distinguishing Characteristic ◽  
Backward Masking ◽  
Time Effects ◽  
Majority Function ◽  
Study Participants

Abstract Cognitive control, the most distinguishing characteristic of human behavior, is typically studied by conflict paradigms, in which conflicts are induced by goal-irrelevant stimuli (interfering conflict). We argue that competing conflict, where all stimuli need to be processed, is more basic and can also be measured using a decision-making task. In the current study, participants completed modified versions of the backward masking majority function task and the Flanker task to compare the two types of conflict in several dimensions, including reaction and resolving time, effects related to cognitive control (conflict adaption and error-related slowing), inter-stimuli distance, and uncertainty of the location. The results of these comparisons illustrate the unity and diversity of these two types of conflict. The potential application of the computational model in competing conflict is also discussed. The results will not only deepen our understanding of cognitive control and decision-making but also contribute to other areas like artificial intelligence.

scholarly journals Filling the gaps: Cognitive control as a critical lens for understanding mechanisms of value-based decision-making

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romy Frömer ◽  
Amitai Shenhav
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Limited Perspective ◽  
Tremendous Progress ◽  
Goal Relevance ◽  
And Control ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Blind Spots

Research into value-based decision making has made tremendous progress in identifying behavioral and neural correlates of choice value. However, these correlates have been primarily viewed through a field-specific lens, focusing on how they contribute to the evaluation and selection between options to arrive at a choice. Here, we reveal blind-spots resulting from this limited perspective, and how they can be filled in through taking the perspective of cognitive control. We highlight three particular insights that this perspective offers: (1) a view towards the goal-relevance of one’s options and their features; (2) a view of decision-making correlates as a proxy for monitoring to determine control adjustments; (3) a view of those correlates as a proxy for monitoring that extends temporally and hierarchically beyond the immediate choice task. We show how adopting these complementary perspectives offers new insight into the determinants of both decisions and control; alternative interpretations for common findings in the neuroeconomic literature; and fruitful directions for future research.

scholarly journals Linear reinforcement learning: Flexible reuse of computation in planning, grid fields, and cognitive control

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Payam Piray ◽  
Nathaniel D. Daw
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Nonlinear Model ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Control Engineering ◽  
Future Events ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Do So

AbstractIt is thought that the brain’s judicious allocation and reuse of computation underlies our ability to plan flexibly, but also failures to do so as in habits and compulsion. Yet we lack a complete, realistic account of either. Building on control engineering, we introduce a new model for decision making in the brain that reuses a temporally abstracted map of future events to enable biologically-realistic, flexible choice at the expense of specific, quantifiable biases. It replaces the classic nonlinear, model-based optimization with a linear approximation that softly maximizes around (and is weakly biased toward) a learned default policy. This solution exposes connections between seemingly disparate phenomena across behavioral neuroscience, notably flexible replanning with biases and cognitive control. It also gives new insight into how the brain can represent maps of long-distance contingencies stably and componentially, as in entorhinal response fields, and exploit them to guide choice even under changing goals.

Accelerated Training with Microworlds for Command Decision Making

2007 ◽  
Vol 51 (25) ◽  
pp. 1578-1582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerzy Jarmasz
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Compression Ratio ◽  
Transfer Of Training ◽  
Training Group ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Target Task ◽  
Similar Performance ◽  
Time Compression ◽  
Study Participants

Microworlds, simple simulations that strip away tactical details, have been proposed as tools for training strategic-level command decision making. In microworlds, scenarios lasting days or weeks play out in a matter of hours. Though time acceleration has been studied in other training areas, little is known about its effects on decision making, especially regarding transfer of training. In the current study, participants were asked to perform a simple decision task modeled on peace support operations. Before performing the task, they received training on the task at a time compression ratio of either 15:1 or 5:1. While both groups achieved similar performance in training, the performance of the 15:1 training group improved when transitioning to the target task, whereas the 5:1 training group saw its performance decrease. The results suggest that time acceleration can benefit training for decision making, but more study is needed to determine optimal acceleration ratios.

scholarly journals Contextual within-trial adaption of cognitive control: Evidence from the combination of conflict tasks

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alodie Rey-Mermet ◽  
Miriam Gade
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Flanker Task ◽  
The Other ◽  
Traffic Light ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Set Size ◽  
Control Processes ◽  
Stimulus Set ◽  
Key Press

It is assumed that we recruit cognitive control (i.e., attentional adjustment and/or inhibition) to resolve two conflicts at a time, such as driving towards a red traffic light and taking care of a near-by ambulance car. A few studies have addressed this issue by combining a Simon task (which required responding with left or right key-press to a stimulus presented on the left or right side of the screen) with either a Stroop task (which required identifying the color of color words) or a Flanker task (which required identifying the target character among flankers). In most studies, the results revealed no interaction between the conflict tasks. However, these studies include a small stimulus set, and participants might have learned the stimulus-response mappings for each stimulus. Thus, it is possible that participants have more relied on episodic memory than on cognitive control to perform the task. In five experiments, we combined the three tasks pairwise, and we increased the stimulus set size to circumvent episodic memory contributions. The results revealed an interaction between the conflict tasks: Irrespective of task combination, the congruency effect of one task was smaller when the stimulus was incongruent for the other task. This suggests that when two conflicts are presented concurrently, the control processes induced by one conflict source can affect the control processes induced by the other conflict source.

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