Foraging Optimally in Social Neuroscience: Computations and Methodological considerations

Abstract

Research in social neuroscience has increasingly begun to use the tools of computational neuroscience to better understand behaviour. Such approaches have proven fruitful for probing underlying neural mechanisms. However, little attention has been paid to how the structure of experimental tasks relates to real-world decisions, and the problems that brains have evolved to solve. To go significantly beyond current understanding, we must begin to use paradigms and mathematical models from behavioural ecology, which offer insights into the decisions animals must make successfully in order to survive. One highly influential theory – Marginal Value Theorem (MVT) – precisely characterises and provides an optimal solution to a vital foraging decision that most species must make: the patch leaving problem. Animals must decide when to leave collecting rewards in a current patch (location) and travel somewhere else. We propose that many questions posed in social neuroscience can be approached as patch-leaving problems. A richer understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying social behaviour will be obtained by using MVT. In this ‘tools of the trade’ article, we outline the patch-leaving problem, the computations of MVT, and discuss is application to social neuroscience. Furthermore, we consider practical challenges and offer solutions for designing paradigms probing patch-leaving, both behaviourally and when using neuroimaging techniques.

Are adolescents more optimal decision‐makers in novel environments? Examining the benefits of heightened exploration in a patch foraging paradigm

“…For example, environments that have slower depleting patches will take longer to reach the environmental average compared to fast depleting patches (Gabay & Apps, 2019). Consequently, in patches with a slower depletion rate, participants receive a higher yield of rewards for the time they invest in individual patches.…”

“…Parameters and optimal leaving thresholds of the four environments in the patch foraging task (Gabay & Apps, 2019).…”

Delay discounting and under-valuing of recent information predict poorer adherence to social distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Patch foraging involves a trade-off between exploiting a known patch which gradually diminishes in resources versus exploring a novel patch with a fresh distribution of resources 12 . To maximise the intake of rewards, the decision-maker must learn the optimal point to leave the current patch to explore a novel one, which can be used to quantify the degree to which they weigh recent information to make decisions 23 , 24 .…”

Computational methods in social neuroscience: recent advances, new tools and future directions

“…In so doing, such research complements and extends findings that have been achieved using more constrained, and sometimes relatively decontextualized, paradigms. In this issue, Gabay and Apps (2021) provide an overview of one particular framework—marginal value theorem ( Charnov, 1976 )—that holds particular promise for examining questions about social cognition and behavior. Marginal value theorem characterizes decisions that individuals must make regarding when to abandon a current location and move onto a new setting when foraging for rewards.…”

“…Marginal value theorem characterizes decisions that individuals must make regarding when to abandon a current location and move onto a new setting when foraging for rewards. In addition to providing an overview of this framework, Gabay and Apps (2021) provide guidance for researchers seeking to implement such techniques in their own research and discuss how various aspects of social cognition and behavior can be conceptualized in this way (e.g. as foraging for social information), and thus, could be fruitfully studied through the lens of marginal value theorem.…”