Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough: Adaptive Information Sampling in a Visuomotor Estimation Task

Mordechai Z. Juni, Todd M. Gureckis, Laurence T. Maloney

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

We investigated how subjects sample information in order to improve performance in a visuomotor estimation task. Subjects were rewarded for touching a hidden circular target based on visual cues to the target’s location. The cues were 'dots' drawn from a Gaussian distribution centered on the middle of the target. Subjects could sample as many cues as they wished, but the potential reward for hitting the target decreased by a fixed amount for each additional cue requested. The subjects' objective was to balance the benefits of increased information against the costs incurred in acquiring it. We compared human performance to ideal and found that subjects sampled more cues than dictated by the optimal stopping rule that tries to maximize expected gain. We contrast our results with recent reports in the literature that subjects typically under-sample.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationExpanding the Space of Cognitive Science - Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2011
EditorsLaura Carlson, Christoph Hoelscher, Thomas F. Shipley
PublisherThe Cognitive Science Society
Pages2854-2859
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9780976831877
StatePublished - 2011
Event33rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Expanding the Space of Cognitive Science, CogSci 2011 - Boston, United States
Duration: Jul 20 2011Jul 23 2011

Publication series

NameExpanding the Space of Cognitive Science - Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2011

Conference

Conference33rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Expanding the Space of Cognitive Science, CogSci 2011
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBoston
Period7/20/117/23/11

Keywords

  • adaptive cue-combination
  • decision making
  • information sampling
  • optimal stopping
  • value of information

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Cognitive Neuroscience

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough: Adaptive Information Sampling in a Visuomotor Estimation Task'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this