Why Do Individuals Seek Information? A Selectionist Perspective

Several authors have proposed that mechanisms of adaptive behavior, and reinforcement learning in particular, can be explained by an innate tendency of individuals to seek information about the local environment. In this article, I argue that these approaches adhere to an essentialist view of learni...

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Autor principal: Matthias Borgstede
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Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:9af9a302e6314eb6a9adcd15737bbc822021-11-19T04:26:24ZWhy Do Individuals Seek Information? A Selectionist Perspective1664-107810.3389/fpsyg.2021.684544https://doaj.org/article/9af9a302e6314eb6a9adcd15737bbc822021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.684544/fullhttps://doaj.org/toc/1664-1078Several authors have proposed that mechanisms of adaptive behavior, and reinforcement learning in particular, can be explained by an innate tendency of individuals to seek information about the local environment. In this article, I argue that these approaches adhere to an essentialist view of learning that avoids the question why information seeking should be favorable in the first place. I propose a selectionist account of adaptive behavior that explains why individuals behave as if they had a tendency to seek information without resorting to essentialist explanations. I develop my argument using a formal selectionist framework for adaptive behavior, the multilevel model of behavioral selection (MLBS). The MLBS has been introduced recently as a formal theory of behavioral selection that links reinforcement learning to natural selection within a single unified model. I show that the MLBS implies an average gain in information about the availability of reinforcement. Formally, this means that behavior reaches an equilibrium state, if and only if the Fisher information of the conditional probability of reinforcement is maximized. This coincides with a reduction in the randomness of the expected environmental feedback as captured by the information theoretic concept of expected surprise (i.e., entropy). The main result is that behavioral selection maximizes the information about the expected fitness consequences of behavior, which, in turn, minimizes average surprise. In contrast to existing attempts to link adaptive behavior to information theoretic concepts (e.g., the free energy principle), neither information gain nor surprise minimization is treated as a first principle. Instead, the result is formally deduced from the MLBS and therefore constitutes a mathematical property of the more general principle of behavioral selection. Thus, if reinforcement learning is understood as a selection process, there is no need to assume an active agent with an innate tendency to seek information or minimize surprise. Instead, information gain and surprise minimization emerge naturally because it lies in the very nature of selection to produce order from randomness.Matthias BorgstedeFrontiers Media S.A.articlebehavioral selectionnatural selectioninformation theoryFisher informationentropymultilevel model of behavioral selectionPsychologyBF1-990ENFrontiers in Psychology, Vol 12 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic behavioral selection
natural selection
information theory
Fisher information
entropy
multilevel model of behavioral selection
Psychology
BF1-990
spellingShingle behavioral selection
natural selection
information theory
Fisher information
entropy
multilevel model of behavioral selection
Psychology
BF1-990
Matthias Borgstede
Why Do Individuals Seek Information? A Selectionist Perspective
description Several authors have proposed that mechanisms of adaptive behavior, and reinforcement learning in particular, can be explained by an innate tendency of individuals to seek information about the local environment. In this article, I argue that these approaches adhere to an essentialist view of learning that avoids the question why information seeking should be favorable in the first place. I propose a selectionist account of adaptive behavior that explains why individuals behave as if they had a tendency to seek information without resorting to essentialist explanations. I develop my argument using a formal selectionist framework for adaptive behavior, the multilevel model of behavioral selection (MLBS). The MLBS has been introduced recently as a formal theory of behavioral selection that links reinforcement learning to natural selection within a single unified model. I show that the MLBS implies an average gain in information about the availability of reinforcement. Formally, this means that behavior reaches an equilibrium state, if and only if the Fisher information of the conditional probability of reinforcement is maximized. This coincides with a reduction in the randomness of the expected environmental feedback as captured by the information theoretic concept of expected surprise (i.e., entropy). The main result is that behavioral selection maximizes the information about the expected fitness consequences of behavior, which, in turn, minimizes average surprise. In contrast to existing attempts to link adaptive behavior to information theoretic concepts (e.g., the free energy principle), neither information gain nor surprise minimization is treated as a first principle. Instead, the result is formally deduced from the MLBS and therefore constitutes a mathematical property of the more general principle of behavioral selection. Thus, if reinforcement learning is understood as a selection process, there is no need to assume an active agent with an innate tendency to seek information or minimize surprise. Instead, information gain and surprise minimization emerge naturally because it lies in the very nature of selection to produce order from randomness.
format article
author Matthias Borgstede
author_facet Matthias Borgstede
author_sort Matthias Borgstede
title Why Do Individuals Seek Information? A Selectionist Perspective
title_short Why Do Individuals Seek Information? A Selectionist Perspective
title_full Why Do Individuals Seek Information? A Selectionist Perspective
title_fullStr Why Do Individuals Seek Information? A Selectionist Perspective
title_full_unstemmed Why Do Individuals Seek Information? A Selectionist Perspective
title_sort why do individuals seek information? a selectionist perspective
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/9af9a302e6314eb6a9adcd15737bbc82
work_keys_str_mv AT matthiasborgstede whydoindividualsseekinformationaselectionistperspective
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