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When the simplest voluntary decisions appear patently suboptimal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2019

Emilio Salinas
Affiliation:
Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1010. esalinas@wakehealth.edujseidema@wakehealth.edustanford@wakehealth.edu
Joshua A. Seideman
Affiliation:
Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1010. esalinas@wakehealth.edujseidema@wakehealth.edustanford@wakehealth.edu
Terrence R. Stanford
Affiliation:
Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1010. esalinas@wakehealth.edujseidema@wakehealth.edustanford@wakehealth.edu

Abstract

Rahnev & Denison (R&D) catalog numerous experiments in which performance deviates, often in subtle ways, from the theoretical ideal. We discuss an extreme case, an elementary behavior (reactive saccades to single targets) for which a simple contextual manipulation results in responses that are dramatically different from those expected based on reward maximization – and yet are highly informative and amenable to mechanistic examination.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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