Computational complexity drives sustained deliberation.

ABSTRACT: Economic deliberations are slow, effortful and intentional searches for solutions to difficult economic problems. Although such deliberations are critical for making sound decisions, the underlying reasoning strategies and neurobiological substrates remain poorly understood. Here two nonhuman primates performed a combinatorial optimization task to identify valuable subsets and satisfy predefined constraints. Their behavior revealed evidence of combinatorial reasoning-when low-complexity algorithms that consider items one at a time provided optimal solutions, the animals adopted low-complexity reasoning strategies. When greater computational resources were required, the animals approximated high-complexity algorithms that search for optimal combinations. The deliberation times reflected the

SUBMITTER: Hong T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10166852 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature