PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Eric Schulz
AU  - Edgar D. Klenske
AU  - Neil R. Bramley
AU  - Maarten Speekenbrink
TI  - Strategic exploration in human adaptive control
AID  - 10.1101/110486
DP  - 2017 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 110486
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/05/09/110486.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/05/09/110486.full
AB  - How do people explore in order to gain rewards in uncertain dynamical systems? Within a reinforcement learning paradigm, control normally involves trading off between exploration (i.e. trying out actions in order to gain more knowledge about the system) and exploitation (i.e. using current knowledge of the system to maximize reward). We study a novel control task in which participants must steer a boat on a grid, aiming to follow a path of high reward whilst learning how their actions affect the boat’s position. We find that participants explore strategically yet conservatively, exploring more when mistakes are less costly and practicing actions that will be required later on.