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Published on: October 15, 2014
Humans and insects decide in similar ways
Philippe Louâpre1, Jacques J M van Alphen, Jean-Sébastien Pierre
1CNRS UMR6553 EcoBio, IFR90/FR2116 CAREN, Université de Rennes I, Campus de Beaulieu, Rennes, France. philippe.louapre@mail-univscience.com
Plos One
|December 21, 2010
Summary
Humans utilize a motivational mechanism for patch-leaving decisions, similar to insects, supporting its biological realism. This finding suggests evolutionary adaptations in decision-making for resource acquisition.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Ecology
- Neuroeconomics
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Animals are assumed to use motivational mechanisms for fitness-maximizing decisions.
- Human decision-making, particularly patch-leaving, lacks clear understanding of motivational mechanisms.
- Existing research often focuses on proximate causes, neglecting ultimate (evolutionary) factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the proximate and ultimate causes of human decision-making in patch-leaving.
- To determine if humans employ a motivational mechanism for patch-leaving decisions.
- To explore the evolutionary significance and neural basis of this mechanism.
Main Methods:
- Combined proximate and ultimate behavioral analyses.
- Studied declared human motivation through introspection during decision-making.
- Compared human patch-leaving decisions to those of insects (e.g., parasitoids, bumblebees).
Main Results:
- Human subjects demonstrated a motivational mechanism for patch-leaving decisions analogous to that of insects.
- This mechanism is adaptive for foraging in heterogeneously distributed resources.
- Results align with evolutionary hypotheses regarding decision-making in ancestral hominoids.
Conclusions:
- Humans employ an evolutionarily conserved motivational mechanism for patch-leaving.
- This mechanism supports the biological realism of motivational decision-making models.
- Findings bridge behavioral ecology and neuroeconomics, suggesting ancestral adaptations in neural mechanisms.
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