Fayers, K.; Hersby, M.; Newell, B.; Rakow, T.; (2004) Evaluating three frameworks for the value of information: adaptation to task characteristics and probabilistic structure. (ELSE Working Papers 94). ESRC Centre for Economic Learning and Social Evolution: London, UK.

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Abstract

We identify, and provide an integration of, three frameworks for measuring the informativeness of cues in a multiple-cue judgment task. Cues can be ranked by information value according to expected information gain (Bayesian framework), cue-outcome correlation (Correlational framework), or ecological validity (Ecological framework). In three experiments, all frameworks significantly predicted information acquisition, with the Correlational (then the Bayesian) framework being most successful. Additionally, participants adapted successfully to task characteristics (cue cost, time pressure, and information limitations) – altering the gross amount of information acquired, but not responding to more subtle features of the cues’ information value that would have been beneficial. Rational analyses of our task environments indicate that participants' behavior can be considered successful from a boundedly rational standpoint.

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