Daily Journal - Nov 5, 2015

Paper Read : 

Receipt of reward leads to altered estimation of effort (2015) - A. Pooresmaeilli, A.Wannig & R.J. Dolan; PNAS

Abstract:

Effort and reward jointly shape many human decisions. Errors in predicting the required effort needed for a task can lead to suboptimal behavior. Here, we show that effort estimations can be biased when retrospectively reestimated following receipt of a rewarding outcome. These biases depend on the contingency between reward and task difficulty and are stronger for highly contingent rewards. Strikingly, the observed pattern accords with predictions from Bayesian cue integration, indicating humans deploy an adaptive and rational strategy to deal with inconsistencies between the efforts they expend and the ensuing rewards.

Implication for my work: Utilization of effort tasks in future experiments. The need to be clear on phases that were fully incentives and those that don't (in the case I'm running experiment with several stages/phases). Also this work helps in explaining learning-with-reward-as-a-feedback.

Daily Entertainment:

X-Files: 6 X 17 (Trevor)

This episode is a slight improvement than the ones before, Alpha. The agents were running after a convict that somehow acquired by tornado accident the ability to walk through solid walls. Since he was convicted due bank robbery and the amount are not found, the agents assumed that the convict is looking for his heist. After a long chase and an additional body, the agents realized that the convict is looking for his son. The guy ended up dead.

Mulder & Scully luck: The convict unable to finish his graffiti as his finger was stopped by a mirror on the wall. Mulder hypothesized that glass acts as insulator to whatever is wrong with the convict. This theory was right when the convict decided to pursue Scully.