"Computational cost" and human cognition: as ever, a continuous weighing of cost and benefit
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From author summary:
A longstanding challenge for cognitive science has been to describe, explain, and predict human task decomposition strategies in terms of more fundamental computational principles.
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Author summary People routinely solve complex tasks by solving simpler subtasks—that is, they use a task decomposition. For example, to accomplish the task of cooking dinner, you might start by choosing a recipe—and in order to choose a recipe, you might start by opening a cookbook. But how do people identify task decompositions? A longstanding challenge for cognitive science has been to describe, explain, and predict human task decomposition strategies in terms of more fundamental computational principles. To address this challenge, we propose a model that formalizes how specific task decomposition strategies reflect rational trade-offs between the value of a solution and the cost of planning. Our account allows us to rationalize previously identified heuristic strategies, understand existing normative proposals within a unified theoretical framework, and explain human responses in a large-scale experiment.
PsyPost
Stephen Matheson🌵🌲
PLOS Biology