Animal Impulsivity: Discounting or Ecological Rationality

动物冲动：打折或生态理性大卫·W·斯蒂芬斯动物通常更喜欢小而直接的食物，即使等待更晚的替代品从长远来看可能会产生更多的食物。这种冲动在理论上和实践上都很重要。例如，冲动被认为在上瘾和合作中发挥了作用。对动物冲动的传统解释是，经济过程降低或贴现延迟收益的价值。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。这一研究项目开发了一种基于生态理性的替代解释生态理性方法假设冲动选择机制的存在，不是因为即时性从根本上说是有价值的，而是因为基于即时性的选择规则在自然选择情景中提供了优势，即使它们在典型的实验情景中表现不佳。本研究计划的目的是评估生态合理性假说。以圈养蓝鸦(Cyanocitta Cristata)为对象的实验将探索二元选择和顺序选择之间的差异。初步证据表明，在连续的情况下，蓝鸟获得了更高的长期食物获得率。作为这一想法的延伸，实验将比较两种情况下选择行为的敏感性与长期后果的差异。进一步的实验将测试实验中断对冲动性的影响，这是折现假说的长期主张。此外，还将使用计算技术来扩展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.