Mickey Mouse's negative affect facing mistakes

摘要

Many of the scientists working in the field of 'animal behaviour' and especially of 'animal cognition' consider the most obvious factors for fitness maximization - for instance, nutritional reward maximization - as the sole motivators when a course of action must be chosen. Sweis, Thomas, and Redish (2018, PLOS Biology, 16(6), e2005853) show that even in a food-restricted environment in which it is vital to maximize food gaining, other factors, not obviously linked to fitness, play a role for decision-making - in the present case, avoidance of a negative affect linked to changing one's mind (a factor which does not improve foraging efficiency), and individual flavour preference (a factor which even impairs foraging efficiency).