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Generalization guides human exploration in vast decision spaces

View ORCID ProfileCharley M. Wu, Eric Schulz, Maarten Speekenbrink, Jonathan D. Nelson, Bjöorn Meder
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/171371
Charley M. Wu
1Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
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  • ORCID record for Charley M. Wu
Eric Schulz
1Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
2Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
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Maarten Speekenbrink
3Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, UK
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Jonathan D. Nelson
4School of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
5MPRG iSearch, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
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Bjöorn Meder
5MPRG iSearch, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
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Abstract

From foraging for food to learning complex games, many aspects of human behaviour can be framed as a search problem with a vast space of possible actions. Under finite search horizons, optimal solutions are generally unobtainable. Yet how do humans navigate vast problem spaces, which require intelligent exploration of unobserved actions? Using a variety of bandit tasks with up to 121 arms, we study how humans search for rewards under limited search horizons, where the spatial correlation of rewards (in both generated and natural environments) provides traction for generalization. Across a variety of diifferent probabilistic and heuristic models, we find evidence that Gaussian Process function learning—combined with an optimistic Upper Confidence Bound sampling strategy—provides a robust account of how people use generalization to guide search. Our modelling results and parameter estimates are recoverable, and can be used to simulate human-like performance, providing insights about human behaviour in complex environments.

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Posted September 25, 2018.
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Generalization guides human exploration in vast decision spaces
Charley M. Wu, Eric Schulz, Maarten Speekenbrink, Jonathan D. Nelson, Bjöorn Meder
bioRxiv 171371; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/171371
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Generalization guides human exploration in vast decision spaces
Charley M. Wu, Eric Schulz, Maarten Speekenbrink, Jonathan D. Nelson, Bjöorn Meder
bioRxiv 171371; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/171371

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