When to stop social learning from a predecessor in an information-foraging task.

ABSTRACT: Striking a balance between individual and social learning is one of the key capabilities that support adaptation under uncertainty. Although intergenerational transmission of information is ubiquitous, little is known about when and how newcomers switch from learning loyally from preceding models to exploring independently. Using a behavioural experiment, we investigated how social information available from a preceding demonstrator affects the timing of becoming independent and individual performance thereafter. Participants worked on a 30-armed bandit task for 100 trials. For the first 15 trials, participants simply observed the choices of a demonstrator who had accumulated more knowledge about the environment and passively received rewards from the demonstrator's choices. Thereafter, pa

SUBMITTER: Suganuma H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11810515 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature