Monkey plays Pac-Man with compositional strategies and hierarchical decision-making
Humans can often handle daunting tasks with ease by developing a set of strategies to reduce decision-making into simpler problems. The ability to use heuristic strategies demands an advanced level of intelligence and has not been demonstrated in animals. Here, we trained macaque monkeys to play the...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2022-03-01
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| Series: | eLife |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/74500 |
| _version_ | 1811235829668904960 |
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| author | Qianli Yang Zhongqiao Lin Wenyi Zhang Jianshu Li Xiyuan Chen Jiaqi Zhang Tianming Yang |
| author_facet | Qianli Yang Zhongqiao Lin Wenyi Zhang Jianshu Li Xiyuan Chen Jiaqi Zhang Tianming Yang |
| author_sort | Qianli Yang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Humans can often handle daunting tasks with ease by developing a set of strategies to reduce decision-making into simpler problems. The ability to use heuristic strategies demands an advanced level of intelligence and has not been demonstrated in animals. Here, we trained macaque monkeys to play the classic video game Pac-Man. The monkeys’ decision-making may be described with a strategy-based hierarchical decision-making model with over 90% accuracy. The model reveals that the monkeys adopted the take-the-best heuristic by using one dominating strategy for their decision-making at a time and formed compound strategies by assembling the basis strategies to handle particular game situations. With the model, the computationally complex but fully quantifiable Pac-Man behavior paradigm provides a new approach to understanding animals’ advanced cognition. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T11:58:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-08af097fafe247d29b9616a5f27d22ec |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T11:58:43Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-08af097fafe247d29b9616a5f27d22ec2022-12-22T03:33:56ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2022-03-011110.7554/eLife.74500Monkey plays Pac-Man with compositional strategies and hierarchical decision-makingQianli Yang0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4226-2319Zhongqiao Lin1Wenyi Zhang2Jianshu Li3Xiyuan Chen4Jiaqi Zhang5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1649-3378Tianming Yang6https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6976-9246Institute of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, ChinaInstitute of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, ChinaInstitute of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, ChinaInstitute of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, ChinaInstitute of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, ChinaBrown University, Providence, United StatesInstitute of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence Technology, Shanghai, ChinaHumans can often handle daunting tasks with ease by developing a set of strategies to reduce decision-making into simpler problems. The ability to use heuristic strategies demands an advanced level of intelligence and has not been demonstrated in animals. Here, we trained macaque monkeys to play the classic video game Pac-Man. The monkeys’ decision-making may be described with a strategy-based hierarchical decision-making model with over 90% accuracy. The model reveals that the monkeys adopted the take-the-best heuristic by using one dominating strategy for their decision-making at a time and formed compound strategies by assembling the basis strategies to handle particular game situations. With the model, the computationally complex but fully quantifiable Pac-Man behavior paradigm provides a new approach to understanding animals’ advanced cognition.https://elifesciences.org/articles/74500cognitiondecision makingbehavior modelingstrategy |
| spellingShingle | Qianli Yang Zhongqiao Lin Wenyi Zhang Jianshu Li Xiyuan Chen Jiaqi Zhang Tianming Yang Monkey plays Pac-Man with compositional strategies and hierarchical decision-making eLife cognition decision making behavior modeling strategy |
| title | Monkey plays Pac-Man with compositional strategies and hierarchical decision-making |
| title_full | Monkey plays Pac-Man with compositional strategies and hierarchical decision-making |
| title_fullStr | Monkey plays Pac-Man with compositional strategies and hierarchical decision-making |
| title_full_unstemmed | Monkey plays Pac-Man with compositional strategies and hierarchical decision-making |
| title_short | Monkey plays Pac-Man with compositional strategies and hierarchical decision-making |
| title_sort | monkey plays pac man with compositional strategies and hierarchical decision making |
| topic | cognition decision making behavior modeling strategy |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/74500 |
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