ArticleCognition2022
Humans adaptively resolve the explore-exploit dilemma under cognitive constraints: Evidence from a multi-armed bandit task.
Article in Cognition, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- Representational capacity shapes both the "whether" and "how" of social learning.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Article
- Apparent learning biases emerge from optimal inference: Insights from master equation analysis.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Individual differences in sequential decision-making.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Negative affect-driven impulsivity as hierarchical model-based overgeneralization.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2025Review
- Perceptual Novelty Drives Early Exploration in a Bottom-Up Manner.Developmental science · 2025Article
- The Effect of Reward Magnitude on Different Types of Exploration in Human Reinforcement Learning.Computational brain & behavior · 2025Article
- Humans rationally balance detailed and temporally abstract world models.Communications psychology · 2025Article
- Revisiting the role of computational neuroimaging in the era of integrative neuroscience.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Review
- The structure and development of explore-exploit decision making.Cognitive psychology · 2024Article
- Impaired value-based decision-making in Parkinson's disease apathy.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2024Article
- Reward-based option competition in human dorsal stream and transition from stochastic exploration to exploitation in continuous space.Science advances · 2024Article
- Naturalistic reinforcement learning.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2024Review
- Active learning with human heuristics: an algorithm robust to labeling bias.Frontiers in artificial intelligence · 2024Article
- Common and distinct equity preferences in children and adults.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Bayesian Reinforcement Learning With Limited Cognitive Load.Open mind : discoveries in cognitive science · 2024Article
- Information foraging with an oracle.PloS one · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
When navigating uncertain worlds, humans must balance exploring new options versus exploiting known rewards. Longer horizons and spatially structured option values encourage humans to explore, but the impact of real-world cognitive constraints such as environment size and memory demands on explore-exploit decisions is unclear. In the present study, humans chose between options varying in uncertainty during a multi-armed bandit task with varying environment size and memory demands. Regression and cognitive computational models of choice behavior showed that with a lower cognitive load, humans are more exploratory than a simulated value-maximizing learner, but under cognitive constraints, they adaptively scale down exploration to maintain exploitation. Thus, while humans are curious, cognitive constraints force people to decrease their strategic exploration in a resource-rational-like manner to focus on harvesting known rewards.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.