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Positive and negative incentive contrasts lead to relative value perception in ants

Humans usually assess things not according to their absolute value, but relative to reference points – a main tenant of Prospect Theory. For example, people rate a new salary relative to previous salaries and salaries of their peers, rather than absolute income. We demonstrate a similar effect in an...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wendt, Stephanie, Strunk, Kim S, Heinze, Jürgen, Roider, Andreas, Czaczkes, Tomer J
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6606023/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31262401
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.45450
Descripción
Sumario:Humans usually assess things not according to their absolute value, but relative to reference points – a main tenant of Prospect Theory. For example, people rate a new salary relative to previous salaries and salaries of their peers, rather than absolute income. We demonstrate a similar effect in an insect: ants expecting to find low-quality food showed higher acceptance of medium-quality food than ants expecting medium quality, and vice versa for high expectations. Further experiments demonstrate that these contrast effects arise from cognitive rather than mere sensory or pre-cognitive perceptual causes. Social information gained inside the nest can also serve as a reference point: the quality of food received from other ants affected the perceived value of food found later. Value judgement is a key element in decision making, and thus relative value perception strongly influences which option is chosen and ultimately how all animals make decisions.