People divide complex tasks into simpler subtasks in a way that balances ease of planning with efficient behavior, consistent with a new computational theory

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

 

IMAGE: DIVIDING A TASK INTO SIMPLER SUBTASKS CAN MAKE PLANNING EASIER. AT BOTTOM, THE TASK REQUIRES NAVIGATING A MAZE FROM THE ENTRY (AT LEFT) TO THE EXIT (AT RIGHT; GLOWING ARROW). AT TOP, THE MAZE IS DIVIDED INTO SUBTASKS, SHOWING TWO KEY ELEMENTS OF HIERARCHICAL PLANNING: AN ABSTRACT PLAN BETWEEN SUBTASKS (BOXES) AND A CONCRETE PLAN FROM THE ENTRY TO THE FIRST SUBGOAL (GLOWING CIRCLE). DIVIDING THE TASK IN THIS WAY MAKES IT EASIER TO PLAN. OUR RESEARCH ARTICLE FINDS THAT PEOPLE CHOOSE SUBGOALS BY BALANCING EASE OF PLANNING WITH EFFICIENT BEHAVIOR, CONSISTENT WITH OUR COMPUTATIONAL THEORY. view more 

CREDIT: CARLOS G. CORREA, CC-BY 4.0, HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)

Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011087

Article Title: Humans decompose tasks by trading off utility and computational cost

Author Countries: USA

Funding: This research was supported by John Templeton Foundation grant 61454 awarded to TLG and NDD (https://www.templeton.org/), U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research grant FA 9550-18-1-0077 awarded to TLG (https://www.afrl.af.mil/AFOSR/), and U.S. Army Research Office grant ARO W911NF-16-1-0474 awarded to NDD (https://www.arl.army.mil/who-we-are/directorates/aro/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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JOURNAL

PLoS Computational Biology

DOI

10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011087 

ARTICLE TITLE

Humans decompose tasks by trading off utility and computational cost

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

1-Jun-2023