title: Reward context determines risky choice in pigeons and humans.
abstract: Whereas humans are risk averse for monetary gains, other animals can be risk seeking for food rewards, especially when faced with variable delays or under significant deprivation. A key difference between these findings is that humans are often explicitly told about the risky options, whereas non-human animals must learn about them from their own experience. We tested pigeons (Columba livia) and humans in formally identical choice tasks where all outcomes were learned from experience. Both species were more risk seeking for larger rewards than for smaller ones. The data suggest that the largest and smallest rewards experienced are overweighted in risky choice. This observed bias towards extreme outcomes represents a key step towards a consilience of these two disparate literatures, identifying common features that drive risky choice across phyla.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, H1.21 Humanities Building, Coventry, UK e.ludvig@warwick.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Elliot A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Ludvig
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
authors.forename: Christopher R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Madan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pisklak
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
authors.forename: Marcia L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Spetch
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000818:Animals; D002755:Choice Behavior; D010856:Columbidae; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D012201:Reward; D012309:Risk-Taking; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: comparative cognition; decision making; gambling; risk sensitivity