title: Information Foraging Across the Life Span: Search and Switch in Unknown Patches.
abstract: In this study, we used a word search puzzle paradigm to investigate age differences in the rate of information gain (RG; i.e., word gain as a function of time) and the cues used to make patch-departure decisions in information foraging. The likelihood of patch departure increased as the profitability of the patch decreased generally. Both younger and older adults persisted past the point of optimality as defined by the marginal value theorem (Charnov, 1976), which assumes perfect knowledge of the foraging ecology. Nevertheless, there was evidence that adults were rational in terms of being sensitive to the change in RG for making the patch-departure decisions. However, given the limitations in cognitive resources and knowledge about the ecology, the estimation of RG may not be accurate. Younger adults were more likely to leave the puzzle as the long-term RG incrementally decreased, whereas older adults were more likely to leave the puzzle as the local RG decreased. However, older adults with better executive control were more likely to adjust their likelihood of patch-departure decisions to the long-term change in RG. Thus, age-dependent reliance on the long-term or local change in RG to make patch-departure decisions might be due to individual differences in executive control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.|Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
authors.forename: Jessie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chin
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.|Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
authors.forename: Brennan R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Payne
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.|Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
authors.forename: Wai-Tat
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.|Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
authors.forename: Daniel G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Morrow
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.|Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
authors.forename: Elizabeth A L
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Stine-Morrow
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D001070:Appetitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D000066492:Cognitive Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D000066506:Heuristics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D019359:Knowledge; D008297:Male; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adaptive behavior; Cognitive aging; Heuristics; Information foraging; Patch-departure behavior; Rate of information gain