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Some work and some play: microscopic and macroscopic approaches to labor and leisure.

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Some work and some play: microscopic and macroscopic approaches to labor and leisure.

Niyogi, Ritwik K, Shizgal, Peter and Dayan, Peter (2014) Some work and some play: microscopic and macroscopic approaches to labor and leisure. PLoS Computational Biology, 10 (12). e1003894.

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Abstract

Given the option, humans and other animals elect to distribute their time between work and leisure, rather than choosing all of one and none of the other. Traditional accounts of partial allocation have characterised behavior on a macroscopic timescale, reporting and studying the mean times spent in work or leisure. However, averaging over the more microscopic processes that govern choices is known to pose tricky theoretical problems, and also eschews any possibility of direct contact with the neural computations involved. We develop a microscopic framework, formalized as a semi-Markov decision process with possibly stochastic choices, in which subjects approximately maximise their expected returns by making momentary commitments to one or other activity. We show macroscopic utilities that arise from microscopic ones, and demonstrate how facets such as imperfect substitutability can arise in a more straightforward microscopic manner.

Divisions:Concordia University > Faculty of Arts and Science > Psychology
Concordia University > Research Units > Centre for Studies in Behavioural Neurobiology
Item Type:Article
Refereed:Yes
Authors:Niyogi, Ritwik K and Shizgal, Peter and Dayan, Peter
Journal or Publication:PLoS Computational Biology
Date:December 2014
Funders:
  • Gatsby Charitable Foundation
  • Concordia University Research Chairs program
  • Fonds de recherche du Que ́bec - Sante ́
ID Code:980114
Deposited By: Peter Shizgal
Deposited On:25 Jun 2015 15:41
Last Modified:18 Jan 2018 17:50
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