ArticlePLoS computational biology2021
Ergodicity-breaking reveals time optimal decision making in humans.
Article in PLoS computational biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Ergodicity transformations predict human decision-making under risk.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Non-ergodicity in ecology and evolution.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Brain network reconfiguration during reward prediction error processing.Network neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- A Rational Risk Policy? Why Path Dependence Matters.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Computational parametric mapping of functional neuroimaging data.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Ergodicity describes an equivalence between the expectation value and the time average of observables. Applied to human behaviour, ergodic theories of decision-making reveal how individuals should tolerate risk in different environments. To optimize wealth over time, agents should adapt their utility function according to the dynamical setting they face. Linear utility is optimal for additive dynamics, whereas logarithmic utility is optimal for multiplicative dynamics. Whether humans approximate time optimal behavior across different dynamics is unknown. Here we compare the effects of additive versus multiplicative gamble dynamics on risky choice. We show that utility functions are modulated by gamble dynamics in ways not explained by prevailing decision theories. Instead, as predicted by time optimality, risk aversion increases under multiplicative dynamics, distributing close to the values that maximize the time average growth of in-game wealth. We suggest that our findings motivate a need for explicitly grounding theories of decision-making on ergodic considerations.
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