Animal Foraging and the Evolution of Goal‐Directed Cognition

Hills, Thomas T.

doi:10.1207/s15516709cog0000_50

Cited by 279 publications

(246 citation statements)

References 200 publications

(258 reference statements)

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“…It can be seen as a form of arearestricted search behavior commonly found in foraging animals and also seen in human cognition (Hills, 2006)-essentially, once the organism is in a resource patch, it should expect to continue to find resources in that patch, and so restrict search to that area, until it receives evidence otherwise (failing to find more resources). Under this explanation, showing "erroneous" hot hand or gambler's fallacy behavior is the result of testing an otherwise ecologically rational strategy in an environment for which it is not designed (Gigerenzer, Todd, & the ABC Research Group, 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expectations of clumpy resources influence predictions of sequential events

Scheibehenne

Wilke

Todd

2011

Evolution and Human Behavior

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When predicting the next outcome in a sequence of events, people often appear to expect streaky patterns, such as that sport players can develop a "hot hand," even if the sequence is actually random. This expectation, referred to as positive recency, can be adaptive in environments characterized by resources that are clustered across space or time (e.g., expecting to find multiple berries on separate bushes). But how strong is this disposition towards positive recency? If people perceive random sequences as streaky, will there be situations in which they forego a payoff because they prefer an unpredictable random environment over an exploitable but alternating pattern? To find out, 238 participants repeatedly chose to bet on the next outcome of one of two sequences of (binary) events, presented next to each other. One sequence displayed events at random while the other sequence was either more streaky (positively autocorrelated) or more alternating (negatively autocorrelated) than chance. The degree of autocorrelation varied in a between-subject design. Most people preferred to predict purely random sequences over those with moderate negative autocorrelation and thus missed the opportunity for above-chance payoff. Positive recency persisted despite extensive feedback and the opportunity to learn more rewarding behavior over time. Further, most participants' choice strategies were best described by a win-stay/lose-shift strategy, adaptive in clumpy or streaky environments. We discuss the implications regarding an evolved human tendency to expect streaky patterns, even if the sequence is actually random.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expectations of clumpy resources influence predictions of sequential events

Scheibehenne

Wilke

Todd

2011

Evolution and Human Behavior

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“…It would not be the first suggestion that a motor strategy can be co-opted into a cognitive strategy. Hills [7] envisages that the 'molecular machinery' that initially evolved for the control of foraging and goal-directed behaviour was co-opted over evolutionary time to modulate the control of goal-directed cognition. 'What was once foraging in a physical space for tangible resources became, over evolutionary time, foraging in cognitive space for information related to those resources' [7, p. 4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovativeness as an emergent property: a new alignment of comparative and experimental research on animal innovation

Griffin¹

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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One contribution of 15 to a theme issue 'Innovation in animals and humans: understanding the origins and development of novel and creative behaviour'. Innovation and creativity are key defining features of human societies. As we face the global challenges of the twenty-first century, they are also facets upon which we must become increasingly reliant. But what makes Homo sapiens so innovative and where does our high innovation propensity come from? Comparative research on innovativeness in non-human animals allows us to peer back through evolutionary time and investigate the ecological factors that drove the evolution of innovativeness, whereas experimental research identifies and manipulates underpinning creative processes. In commenting on the present theme issue, I highlight the controversies that have typified this research field and show how a paradigmatic shift in our thinking about innovativeness will contribute to resolving these tensions. In the past decade, innovativeness has been considered by many as a trait, a direct product of cognition, and a direct target of selection. The evidence I review here suggests that innovativeness will be hereon viewed as one component, or even an emergent property of a larger array of traits, which have evolved to deal with environmental variation. I illustrate how research should capitalize on taxonomic diversity to unravel the full range of psychological processes that underpin innovativeness in non-human animals.

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“…On this view, a tendency to look for clumps is not just a quirk of modernity, but a deep-seated part of our psychology that evolved because there are many contexts in which the world is not random, and looking for clumps is therefore adaptive. In particular, clumped distributions of resources such as plants, animals, water sources, and human settlements are common in natural environments, and animal and human foragers appear to adapt their search strategies to these observable statistical regularities in their foraging landscape (Bell, 1991;Hills, 2006;Krause & Ruxton, 2002;Taylor, 1961;Taylor, Woiwod, & Perry, 1978).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Illusionary pattern detection in habitual gamblers

Wilke

Scheibehenne

Gaissmaier

et al. 2014

Evolution and Human Behavior

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Does problem gambling arise from an illusion that patterns exist where there are none? Our prior research suggested that "hot hand," a tendency to perceive illusory streaks in sequences, may be a human universal, tied to an evolutionary history of foraging for clumpy resources. Like other evolved propensities, this tendency might be expressed more stongly in some people than others, leading them to see luck where others see only chance. If the desire to gamble is enhanced by illusory pattern detection, such individual differences could be predictive of gambling risk. While previous research has suggested a potential link between cognitive strategies and propensity to gamble, no prior study has directly measured gamblers' cognitive strategies using behavioral choice tasks, and linked them to risk taking or gambling propensities. Using a computerized sequential decision-making paradigm that directly measured subjects' predictions of sequences, we found evidence that subjects who have a greater tendency to gamble also have a higher tendency to perceive illusionary patterns, as measured by their preferences for a random slot machine over a negatively autocorrelated one. Casino gamblers played the random slot machine significantly more often even though a training phase and a history of outcomes were provided. Additionally, we found a marginally significant group difference between gamblers and matched community members in their slot-machine choice proportions. Performance on our behavioral choice task correlated with subjects' risk attitudes toward gambling and their frequency of play, as well as the selection of choice strategies in gambling activities.

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Animal Foraging and the Evolution of Goal‐Directed Cognition

Cited by 279 publications

References 200 publications

Expectations of clumpy resources influence predictions of sequential events

Expectations of clumpy resources influence predictions of sequential events

Innovativeness as an emergent property: a new alignment of comparative and experimental research on animal innovation

Illusionary pattern detection in habitual gamblers

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