Mycological rationality: Heuristics, perception and decision-making in mushroom foraging

Abstract

How do mushroom foragers make safe and efficient decisions under uncertainty, or deal with the genuine risks of misidentification and poisoning? This article is an inquiry into ecological rationality, heuristics, perception, and decision-making in mushroom foraging. By surveying 894 Finnish mushroom foragers, this article illustrates how socially learned rules of thumb and heuristics are used in mushroom foraging, and how simple heuristics are often complemented by more complex and intuitive decision-making. The results illustrate how traditional foraging cultures have evolved precautionary heuristics to deal with uncertainties and poisonous species, and how foragers develop selective attention through experience. The study invites us to consider whether other human foraging cultures might use heuristics similarly, how and why such traditions have culturally evolved, and whether early hunter-gatherers might have used simple heuristics to deal with uncertainty.

Rules of thumb, from Holocene to Anthropocene

“…Regardless, mushroom foraging is very common in Finland, fatal accidents are rare and mushroom hunting is considered a form of cultural heritage (Kaaronen, 2020a).…”

“…Much of the foragers' success in an uncertain environment can be attributed to relatively simple rules. Mushroom foraging heuristics include simple recognition-type heuristics (see also Goldstein and Gigerenzer, 2002), such as 'don't pick mushrooms you don't recognise', as well as other decision-making rules that altogether preclude the picking or eating of specific subsets of potentially dangerous mushrooms (Kaaronen, 2020a). The latter case is best exemplified by the commonly reported fast and frugal heuristic: 'avoid all white mushrooms'.…”

“…Foraging heuristics are used particularly to establish precautionary boundary rules for foraging (Kaaronen, 2019(Kaaronen, , 2020a. In the practice of mushroom foraging, it is foremost important to avoid the risk of consuming a poisonous mushroom.…”

“…However, rules of thumb can be used complementarily to more complex knowledge systems: inherited rules of thumb serve as rough-grained instructional scaffoldings (Van Der Stuyf, 2002) which allow even a child to participate in the practice of foraging. Indeed, rules of thumb are often among the first rules taught to beginners, helping new practitioners develop more fine-grained expertise later on (Kaaronen, 2019(Kaaronen, , 2020a(Kaaronen, , 2020b.…”

Journal of Multiscale Neuroscience

“…Rather, humans are boundedly rational, using various sets of culturally evolved heuristics and biases to solve problems and make decisions (Todd & Gigerenzer, 2012;Kaaronen et al, 2021;Jiménez & Mesoudi, 2019). In our everyday lives, we largely make decisions based on culturally inherited rulesets, heuristics, and "rules of thumb" (Kaaronen et al, 2021;Kaaronen, 2020). Because cumulative cultural evolution is collective, not everyone needs to know how or why these heuristics work for them to function.…”