Human complex exploration strategies are enriched by noradrenaline-modulated heuristics
An exploration-exploitation trade-off, the arbitration between sampling a lesser-known against a known rich option, is thought to be solved using computationally demanding exploration algorithms. Given known limitations in human cognitive resources, we hypothesised the presence of additional cheaper...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2021-01-01
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| Series: | eLife |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/59907 |
| _version_ | 1797991901943562240 |
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| author | Magda Dubois Johanna Habicht Jochen Michely Rani Moran Ray J Dolan Tobias U Hauser |
| author_facet | Magda Dubois Johanna Habicht Jochen Michely Rani Moran Ray J Dolan Tobias U Hauser |
| author_sort | Magda Dubois |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | An exploration-exploitation trade-off, the arbitration between sampling a lesser-known against a known rich option, is thought to be solved using computationally demanding exploration algorithms. Given known limitations in human cognitive resources, we hypothesised the presence of additional cheaper strategies. We examined for such heuristics in choice behaviour where we show this involves a value-free random exploration, that ignores all prior knowledge, and a novelty exploration that targets novel options alone. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled drug study, assessing contributions of dopamine (400 mg amisulpride) and noradrenaline (40 mg propranolol), we show that value-free random exploration is attenuated under the influence of propranolol, but not under amisulpride. Our findings demonstrate that humans deploy distinct computationally cheap exploration strategies and that value-free random exploration is under noradrenergic control. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T08:59:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9e49da0269134eab82cf186ad0a9911d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T08:59:41Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-9e49da0269134eab82cf186ad0a9911d2022-12-22T04:32:49ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2021-01-011010.7554/eLife.59907Human complex exploration strategies are enriched by noradrenaline-modulated heuristicsMagda Dubois0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5396-1855Johanna Habicht1Jochen Michely2Rani Moran3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7641-2402Ray J Dolan4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9356-761XTobias U Hauser5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7997-8137Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London, United Kingdom; Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United KingdomMax Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London, United Kingdom; Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United KingdomMax Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London, United Kingdom; Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, GermanyMax Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London, United Kingdom; Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United KingdomMax Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London, United Kingdom; Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United KingdomMax Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London, United Kingdom; Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United KingdomAn exploration-exploitation trade-off, the arbitration between sampling a lesser-known against a known rich option, is thought to be solved using computationally demanding exploration algorithms. Given known limitations in human cognitive resources, we hypothesised the presence of additional cheaper strategies. We examined for such heuristics in choice behaviour where we show this involves a value-free random exploration, that ignores all prior knowledge, and a novelty exploration that targets novel options alone. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled drug study, assessing contributions of dopamine (400 mg amisulpride) and noradrenaline (40 mg propranolol), we show that value-free random exploration is attenuated under the influence of propranolol, but not under amisulpride. Our findings demonstrate that humans deploy distinct computationally cheap exploration strategies and that value-free random exploration is under noradrenergic control.https://elifesciences.org/articles/59907exploration-exploitationdopaminenoradrenaline |
| spellingShingle | Magda Dubois Johanna Habicht Jochen Michely Rani Moran Ray J Dolan Tobias U Hauser Human complex exploration strategies are enriched by noradrenaline-modulated heuristics eLife exploration-exploitation dopamine noradrenaline |
| title | Human complex exploration strategies are enriched by noradrenaline-modulated heuristics |
| title_full | Human complex exploration strategies are enriched by noradrenaline-modulated heuristics |
| title_fullStr | Human complex exploration strategies are enriched by noradrenaline-modulated heuristics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Human complex exploration strategies are enriched by noradrenaline-modulated heuristics |
| title_short | Human complex exploration strategies are enriched by noradrenaline-modulated heuristics |
| title_sort | human complex exploration strategies are enriched by noradrenaline modulated heuristics |
| topic | exploration-exploitation dopamine noradrenaline |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/59907 |
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