Abstract
In complex natural environments, a single choice can lead to multiple outcomes. Human agents should only learn from outcomes that are due to their choices, not from outcomes without such a relationship. We designed an experiment to measure learning about reward and effort magnitudes in an environment in which other features of the outcome were random and had no relationship with choice. We found that, although people could learn about reward magnitudes, they nevertheless were irrationally biased toward repeating certain choices as a function of the presence or absence of random reward features. Activity in different brain regions in the prefrontal cortex either reflected the bias or reflected resistance to the bias.
Highlights
The environments in which animals and humans live are complex
Humans should learn about those aspects contingent upon choice: in our task, such aspects were reward and effort magnitudes
We found areas possibly inducing and counteracting this bias
Summary
The environments in which animals and humans live are complex. To make the best decisions, agents must learn which choices are associated with good or bad outcomes, such as monetary rewards, or effort. They must integrate information about these qualitatively different types of outcomes to make.
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