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Exploration versus exploitation in space, mind, and society.
Thomas T Hills1, Peter M Todd2, David Lazer3
1Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
|December 10, 2014
Summary
Search is fundamental to life, with similar problem-solving strategies observed across diverse domains, from memory to foraging. Understanding search cognition across individuals and societies offers insights into evolution and innovation.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Evolutionary Biology
- Information Science
- Behavioral Ecology
Background:
- Search is a pervasive behavior across biological and computational systems.
- Research on search has historically been siloed across various disciplines.
- Emerging trends suggest common underlying principles and solutions in search problems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the unifying principles of search across diverse domains.
- To investigate the shared characteristics and evolutionary origins of internal and external search.
- To understand the scalable nature of search from individual to societal levels.
Main Methods:
- Cross-disciplinary review of search literature.
- Comparative analysis of internal (e.g., memory) and external (e.g., spatial foraging) search strategies.
- Examination of neural mechanisms underlying search behaviors.
- Analysis of search's role in problem-solving and innovation.
Main Results:
- Identified shared formal properties and solutions in search problems across disciplines.
- Demonstrated similarities between internal and external search, including shared neural bases.
- Revealed that search principles scale from individual cognition to societal dynamics.
- Highlighted search as a constraint and driver for problem-solving and innovation.
Conclusions:
- Search is a core cognitive feature with significant evolutionary implications.
- An interdisciplinary approach is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of search.
- Search mechanisms and principles are conserved across species and scales, influencing cognition and innovation.
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