Animal Impulsivity: Discounting or Ecological Rationality

动物冲动性：贴现还是生态相似性。动物通常更喜欢一个小的即时食物项目，即使等待一个更延迟的替代品可以产生更多的食物，从长远来看。 这种冲动在理论和实践上都具有重要意义。 例如，冲动被认为在成瘾和合作中发挥作用。 对动物冲动性的传统解释是，经济过程减少了延迟收益的价值，或使其打了折扣。 然而，事实证明，很难构建一个合理的贴现模型来解释动物的冲动性。 生态理性的方法假设冲动的选择机制存在，不是因为即时性是根本有价值的，而是因为基于即时性的选择规则在自然选择情况下提供了优势，即使它们在典型的实验情况下表现不佳。 本研究计划的目的是评估生态合理性假设。 实验，使用圈养的蓝鸟（Cyanocitta cristata），将探讨二元和顺序选择情况之间的差异。 初步证据表明，在连续的情况下，蓝鸟实现更高的长期食物增益率。 扩展这个想法，实验将比较选择行为的敏感性，在两种情况下的长期后果的差异。 进一步的实验将测试实验中断对冲动的影响，这是贴现假设的长期主张。 此外，计算技术将用于扩大生态合理性方法的预测。

Animal Impulsivity: Discounting or Ecological RationalityDavid W. StephensAnimals often prefer a small-immediate food item, even when waiting for a more delayed alternative could produce more food in the long-run. This impulsiveness is theoretically and practically important. For example, impulsiveness is thought to play a role in addiction and cooperation. The conventional explanation of animal impulsivity is that economic processes reduce or discount the value of delayed benefits. Yet, it has proven difficult to construct a plausible discounting model that explains animal impulsivity. This research program develops an alternative explanation based on ecological rationality The ecological rationality approach hypothesizes that impulsive choice mechanisms exist, not because immediacy is fundamentally valuable, but because choice rules based on immediacy offer advantages in natural choice situations, even if they do poorly in typical experimental situations. The objective of this research program is to assess the ecological rationality hypothesis. Experiments, using captive blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata), will explore the difference between binary and sequential choice situations. Preliminary evidence suggests that blue jays achieve higher long-term rates of food gain in the sequential situation. Extending this idea, experiments will compare the sensitivity of choice behavior to differences in long-term consequences in both situations. Further experiments will test the effect of experimental interruptions on impulsiveness, which is long-standing claim of the discounting hypothesis. In addition, computational techniques will be used to expand the predictions of the ecological rationality approach.