Time pressure changes how people explore and respond to uncertainty

Charley M Wu,Maarten Speekenbrink,Eric Schulz,Timothy J Pleskac

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-07901-1

Abstract

How does time pressure influence exploration and decision-making? We investigated this question with several four-armed bandit tasks manipulating (within subjects) expected reward, uncertainty, and time pressure (limited vs. unlimited). With limited time, people have less opportunity to perform costly computations, thus shifting the cost-benefit balance of different exploration strategies. Through behavioral, reinforcement learning (RL), reaction time (RT), and evidence accumulation analyses, we show that time pressure changes how people explore and respond to uncertainty. Specifically, participants reduced their uncertainty-directed exploration under time pressure, were less value-directed, and repeated choices more often. Since our analyses relate uncertainty to slower responses and dampened evidence accumulation (i.e., drift rates), this demonstrates a resource-rational shift towards simpler, lower-cost strategies under time pressure. These results shed light on how people adapt their exploration and decision-making strategies to externally imposed cognitive constraints.

Highlights

How does time pressure influence exploration and decision-making? We investigated this question with several four-armed bandit tasks manipulating expected reward, uncertainty, and time pressure
Participants chose the high variance option (‘P’) more frequently in unlimited time (Odds Ratio: OR = 1.11[0.80, 1.53]; Table S2), the estimates overlapped with chance (OR = 1 )
How is exploration and decision-making constrained by cognitive limitations imposed through time pressure? We investigated this question using several variants of a four-armed bandit task, designed to independently manipulate differences in reward expectations and uncertainty

Summary

Introduction

How does time pressure influence exploration and decision-making? We investigated this question with several four-armed bandit tasks manipulating (within subjects) expected reward, uncertainty, and time pressure (limited vs. unlimited). Reinforcement learning (RL), reaction time (RT), and evidence accumulation analyses, we show that time pressure changes how people explore and respond to uncertainty. Since our analyses relate uncertainty to slower responses and dampened evidence accumulation (i.e., drift rates), this demonstrates a resourcerational shift towards simpler, lower-cost strategies under time pressure. These results shed light on how people adapt their exploration and decision-making strategies to externally imposed cognitive constraints. We manipulate decision time as a method for imposing external limitations on cognitive resources, to better understand the differential cognitive costs associated with random and directed exploration. With less time “budgeted” for costly computations, resource-rational decision m akers[4,5] might be Scientific Reports | (2022) 12:4122

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion