A study by MIT suggests that humans and animals have a built-in tendency to continuously tweak their methods, driven by the potential for discovering superior strategies and adapting to unforeseen changes.
The article from Earth.com discusses a study revealing that both humans and animals have an inherent tendency to experiment and explore, even after mastering a task. Conducted by researchers at MIT, the study suggests that this behavior serves two main purposes: adapting to potential changes in task rules and discovering potentially better solutions. The study involved humans and marmosets performing a task that required them to react when an image disappeared. Despite learning optimal strategies, participants continued to alter their responses based on past experiences, indicating an exploratory approach to improve their internal model of the environment. This behavior has implications for understanding learning processes and could provide insights into autism spectrum disorders, as marmosets are increasingly used in related research. The full study was published in the journal Current Biology.
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First, he says, simply because a task's rules seem set one moment doesn't mean they'll stay that way in this uncertain world, so altering behavior from the optimal condition every so often could help reveal necessary adjustments.
Second, and of equal importance, continuous exploration could also offer a chance to discover something superior to our current best.
"If the goal is to maximize reward, you should never deviate once you have found the perfect solution, yet you keep exploring. Why? It's like food. We all like certain foods, but we still keep trying different foods because you never know, there might be something you could discover," noted the researchers.
