Social aloofness is associated with non-social explore-exploit decisions

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Social Psychology
• Computational Psychiatry

Background:

• Understanding the explore-exploit dilemma is crucial for navigating dynamic environments.
• Individual differences in cognitive exploration strategies and their link to psychological flexibility are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between individual differences in decision-making strategies, specifically exploration, and social/non-social psychological traits.
• To examine how traits measured by the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ) relate to cognitive exploration.

Main Methods:

• A large online sample (N=1001) completed a cognitive flexibility task and a restless three-armed bandit task.
• Individual differences in decision-making and exploration were assessed.
• Social and non-social traits were measured using the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ).
• Reinforcement learning (RL) modeling and sparse canonical correlation analysis were employed.

Main Results:

• Exploratory behavior was primarily associated with the BAPQ aloof subscale, not cognitive rigidity.
• Higher BAPQ aloof scores correlated with decreased shift rates, increased win-stay/lose-shift behavior, heightened sensitivity to negative outcomes, and reduced exploration.
• RL modeling indicated reduced exploration in high aloof individuals was due to lower decision noise, not cognitive inflexibility.
• Socially coded items showed the strongest association with non-social reward-related measures.

Conclusions:

• Differences in the motivation to seek information, particularly in social contexts, may underlie reduced exploratory behavior in non-social tasks.
• Computational approaches can reveal general cognitive mechanisms influencing social functioning.
• Findings challenge previous links between exploratory behavior and cognitive rigidity, emphasizing the role of social motivation.