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Overcoming Individual Limitations Through Distributed Computation: Rational Information Accumulation in Multigenerational Populations
Many of the computational problems people face are difficult to solve under the limited time and cognitive resources available to them. Overcoming these limitations through social interaction is one of the most distinctive features of human intelligence. In this paper, we show that information accum...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
John Wiley and Sons Inc.
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9542743/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35032363 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/tops.12596 |
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author | Hardy, Mathew D. Krafft, Peaks M. Thompson, Bill Griffiths, Thomas L. |
author_facet | Hardy, Mathew D. Krafft, Peaks M. Thompson, Bill Griffiths, Thomas L. |
author_sort | Hardy, Mathew D. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Many of the computational problems people face are difficult to solve under the limited time and cognitive resources available to them. Overcoming these limitations through social interaction is one of the most distinctive features of human intelligence. In this paper, we show that information accumulation in multigenerational social networks can be produced by a form of distributed Bayesian inference that allows individuals to benefit from the experience of previous generations while expending little cognitive effort. In doing so, we provide a criterion for assessing the rationality of a population that extends traditional analyses of the rationality of individuals. We tested the predictions of this analysis in two highly controlled behavioral experiments where the social transmission structure closely matched the assumptions of our model. Participants made decisions on simple categorization tasks that relied on and contributed to accumulated knowledge. Success required these microsocieties to accumulate information distributed across people and time. Our findings illustrate how in certain settings, distributed computation at the group level can pool information and resources, allowing limited individuals to perform effectively on complex tasks. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9542743 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-95427432022-10-14 Overcoming Individual Limitations Through Distributed Computation: Rational Information Accumulation in Multigenerational Populations Hardy, Mathew D. Krafft, Peaks M. Thompson, Bill Griffiths, Thomas L. Top Cogn Sci Topic: Extending Rationality — Editors: Emmanuel M. Pothos and Timothy J. Pleskac Many of the computational problems people face are difficult to solve under the limited time and cognitive resources available to them. Overcoming these limitations through social interaction is one of the most distinctive features of human intelligence. In this paper, we show that information accumulation in multigenerational social networks can be produced by a form of distributed Bayesian inference that allows individuals to benefit from the experience of previous generations while expending little cognitive effort. In doing so, we provide a criterion for assessing the rationality of a population that extends traditional analyses of the rationality of individuals. We tested the predictions of this analysis in two highly controlled behavioral experiments where the social transmission structure closely matched the assumptions of our model. Participants made decisions on simple categorization tasks that relied on and contributed to accumulated knowledge. Success required these microsocieties to accumulate information distributed across people and time. Our findings illustrate how in certain settings, distributed computation at the group level can pool information and resources, allowing limited individuals to perform effectively on complex tasks. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2022-01-15 2022-07 /pmc/articles/PMC9542743/ /pubmed/35032363 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/tops.12596 Text en © 2022 The Authors. Topics in Cognitive Science published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Cognitive Science Society. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Topic: Extending Rationality — Editors: Emmanuel M. Pothos and Timothy J. Pleskac Hardy, Mathew D. Krafft, Peaks M. Thompson, Bill Griffiths, Thomas L. Overcoming Individual Limitations Through Distributed Computation: Rational Information Accumulation in Multigenerational Populations |
title | Overcoming Individual Limitations Through Distributed Computation: Rational Information Accumulation in Multigenerational Populations |
title_full | Overcoming Individual Limitations Through Distributed Computation: Rational Information Accumulation in Multigenerational Populations |
title_fullStr | Overcoming Individual Limitations Through Distributed Computation: Rational Information Accumulation in Multigenerational Populations |
title_full_unstemmed | Overcoming Individual Limitations Through Distributed Computation: Rational Information Accumulation in Multigenerational Populations |
title_short | Overcoming Individual Limitations Through Distributed Computation: Rational Information Accumulation in Multigenerational Populations |
title_sort | overcoming individual limitations through distributed computation: rational information accumulation in multigenerational populations |
topic | Topic: Extending Rationality — Editors: Emmanuel M. Pothos and Timothy J. Pleskac |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9542743/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35032363 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/tops.12596 |
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