A reward self-bias leads to more optimal foraging for ourselves than others.

Autor: Contreras-Huerta LS; Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3PH, UK. sebastian.contreras@uai.cl.; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, FMRIB, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK. sebastian.contreras@uai.cl.; Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK. sebastian.contreras@uai.cl.; Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK. sebastian.contreras@uai.cl.; Center for Social and Cognitive Neuroscience (CSCN), School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Viña del Mar, Chile. sebastian.contreras@uai.cl.; Center of Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies, Santiago, Chile. sebastian.contreras@uai.cl., Pisauro MA; Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.; Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.; School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK., Küchenhoff S; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, FMRIB, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK., Gekiere A; Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3PH, UK.; Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium., Le Heron C; Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand.; New Zealand Brain Research Institute, Christchurch, New Zealand., Lockwood PL; Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3PH, UK.; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, FMRIB, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK.; Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.; Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.; Christ Church, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 1DP, UK., Apps MAJ; Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3PH, UK. m.a.j.apps@bham.ac.uk.; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, FMRIB, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK. m.a.j.apps@bham.ac.uk.; Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK. m.a.j.apps@bham.ac.uk.; Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK. m.a.j.apps@bham.ac.uk.; Christ Church, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 1DP, UK. m.a.j.apps@bham.ac.uk.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Scientific reports [Sci Rep] 2024 Nov 05; Vol. 14 (1), pp. 26845. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Nov 05.
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-69452-x
Abstrakt: People are self-biased for rewards. We place a higher value on rewards if we receive them than if other people do. However, existing work has ignored one of the most powerful theorems from behavioural ecology of how animals seek resources in everyday life, the Marginal Value Theorem (MVT), which accounts for optimal behaviour for maximising resources intake rate. Does this self-bias help humans maximise rewards when foraging for their own benefit compared to foraging for the benefit of others? Participants had to decide when to leave patches where reward intake was gradually depleting, in environments with different average reward rates. Half of the time participants foraged for themselves, and in the other half they collected rewards for an anonymous stranger. The optimal MVT derived solution states people should leave when the instantaneous reward intake in a patch equals the average rate in an environment. Across two studies, people were more optimal when foraging for self, showing a reduced sensitivity to instantaneous rewards when foraging for other. Autistic traits were linked to reduced sensitivity to reward rates when foraging for self but not for other. These results highlight that the self-bias may be adaptive, helping people maximise reward intake.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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