Can a Little Worm Make Big Decisions?
Throughout our lives, we, humans, are constantly trying to make complex decisions. Which way should I choose to avoid traffic? Should I drive or walk to work? Do I want to cook or go out for dinner? Consciously or subconsciously we frequently weigh the benefits and weaknesses of each option when making these choices. This can be done explicitly by generating a list of advantages and disadvantages, or implicitly when a person ‘trusts their gut’ and makes a decision without thinking.
We are not the only animals on this planet who need to make decisions, though. Throughout their lives, all animals, from the proud lion stalking the African savannah to the elegant house cat of a New York apartment, must make decisions. So, how do other species make decisions, and is their decision-making process similar to human decision-making? Behaviour analysts have been studying animals in the lab for the past 50 years to try to answer these questions.
So scientists developed a method in order to test the animals’ decision-making abilities — often tried this method on rats or pigeons. It works like this: the animal is placed in the chamber and given two options. Let’s say option A provides them 50 grams of food and option B gives them only 25 grams. However, B’s quality is better than A’s. This eventually helps the scientists to understand animals’ points of view, indicating that they are learning to assess the benefits and drawbacks of each option. Furthermore, the scientists try to influence the animal’s choices by adjusting the amount of food each alternative provides to examine if the animal had tried to weigh both circumstances.
Overall, scientists have found a general formula for animal decision-making systems called the “matching law”. In behavioural studies, it is a formula in the form of a power function (y = axb) that describes the choice between two alternatives in terms of the ratio (y) of rates of occurrence for (or time spent in) each alternative (in our case A and B), and the ratio (x) of the rates of reinforcement of the two alternatives.
While the “matching law” has been proven to anticipate animal decisions, it is logical to wonder if it can also account for the decisions people make on a daily basis. Further experimental and archival research has been trying to reveal if the matching law correctly describes human decision-making. Who knows, maybe we are making the same decisions with our pets after all.
Works Cited:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2019.00164/full
https://thedecisionlab.com/insights/society/parallels-between-human-animal-decision-making
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316122741_Decision-Making_in_Animals
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763419305202
