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Related Experiment Videos

Rats behave optimally in a sunk cost task.

Nataly Yáñez1, Arturo Bouzas1, Vladimir Orduña1

  • 1Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México D.F. 4510, Mexico.

Behavioural Processes
|April 12, 2017
PubMed
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Rats did not exhibit the sunk cost effect, unlike pigeons. They made optimal decisions to leave situations, even without clear signals, by using the number of responses as a cue.

Area of Science:

  • Behavioral economics
  • Animal behavior studies

Background:

  • The sunk cost effect describes persisting with an investment despite better alternatives.
  • Previous studies with pigeons showed non-optimal behavior when information was limited.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the sunk cost effect in rats.
  • To examine the relationship between sunk cost and optimal decision-making regarding leaving a situation.
  • To compare rat behavior to previous findings in pigeons.

Main Methods:

  • A procedure involving fixed-ratio schedules with varying probabilities was used.
  • Discriminative stimuli indicating optimal exit points were manipulated (present or absent).
  • Escape-optimal and persistence-optimal conditions were created by adjusting schedule values and probabilities.
Keywords:
ChoiceDiscriminative stimuliExpected ratioInformationPigeonsRatsSunk cost

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Main Results:

  • Rats demonstrated optimal behavior in both the presence and absence of discriminative stimuli.
  • Rats appeared to use the number of responses already made as a criterion for exiting a trial.
  • The sunk cost effect was not observed in rats, contrasting with pigeon studies.

Conclusions:

  • Rats can make optimal decisions about leaving situations without explicit environmental cues.
  • The sunk cost effect may not be a universal phenomenon in decision-making.
  • Response count serves as a viable internal cue for optimal exit strategies in rats.