Ergodicity-breaking reveals time optimal decision making in humans.
PLoS Comput Biol
; 17(9): e1009217, 2021 09.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34499635
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.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Decision Making
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
PLoS Comput Biol
Journal subject:
BIOLOGIA
/
INFORMATICA MEDICA
Year:
2021
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country: