Risk should be objectively defined: comment on Pelé and Sueur

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Ecology
• Animal Cognition
• Decision Theory

Background:

• Optimal decision-making models incorporate delay, accuracy, and risk.
• Current models define risk subjectively, based on perceived or interpreted risk.
• This subjective definition makes optimality an untestable concept.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically evaluate the definition of risk in optimal decision-making models.
• To propose an objective, experience-based definition of risk.
• To establish criteria for assessing decision optimality in animals.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of existing theoretical frameworks for decision-making.
• Conceptual critique of subjective risk assessment in animal behavior studies.
• Proposal of an alternative framework defining risk objectively.

Main Results:

• The subjective definition of risk renders the concept of optimality untestable.
• Perceived risk is circular, as it is inferred from the decision itself.
• An objective, experience-based definition of risk is necessary for empirical testing.

Conclusions:

• Optimality in decision-making is only testable when risk is objectively defined.
• Under controlled conditions with no actual risk, choosing a lower rate of food access is suboptimal.
• Future research should focus on objectively quantifying risk in animal decision-making.