Flexible learning in complex worlds.

ABSTRACT: Cognitive flexibility can enhance the ability to adjust to changing environments. Here, we use learning simulations to investigate the possible advantages of flexible learning in volatile (changing) environments. We compare two established learning mechanisms, one with constant learning rates and one with rates that adjust to volatility. We study an ecologically relevant case of volatility, based on observations of developing cleaner fish Labroides dimidiatus that experience a transition from a simpler to a more complex foraging environment. There are other similar transitions in nature, such as migrating to a new and different habitat. We also examine two traditional approaches to volatile environments in experimental psychology and behavioral ecology: reversal learning, and learni

SUBMITTER: Leimar O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10756056 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan-Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature