title: What is adaptive about adaptive decision making? A parallel constraint satisfaction account.
abstract: There is broad consensus that human cognition is adaptive. However, the vital question of how exactly this adaptivity is achieved has remained largely open. Herein, we contrast two frameworks which account for adaptive decision making, namely broad and general single-mechanism accounts vs. multi-strategy accounts. We propose and fully specify a single-mechanism model for decision making based on parallel constraint satisfaction processes (PCS-DM) and contrast it theoretically and empirically against a multi-strategy account. To achieve sufficiently sensitive tests, we rely on a multiple-measure methodology including choice, reaction time, and confidence data as well as eye-tracking. Results show that manipulating the environmental structure produces clear adaptive shifts in choice patterns - as both frameworks would predict. However, results on the process level (reaction time, confidence), in information acquisition (eye-tracking), and from cross-predicting choice consistently corroborate single-mechanisms accounts in general, and the proposed parallel constraint satisfaction model for decision making in particular.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Göttingen, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: agloeck@uni-goettingen.de.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Glöckner
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Mannheim, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Benjamin E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Hilbig
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jekel
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adaptive cognition; Adaptive decision making; Decision strategies; Parallel constraint satisfaction; Probabilistic inferences