Positive and negative incentive contrasts lead to relative value perception in ants.

ABSTRACT: Humans usually assess things not according to their absolute value, but relative to reference points - a main tenant of Prospect Theory. For example, people rate a new salary relative to previous salaries and salaries of their peers, rather than absolute income. We demonstrate a similar effect in an insect: ants expecting to find low-quality food showed higher acceptance of medium-quality food than ants expecting medium quality, and vice versa for high expectations. Further experiments demonstrate that these contrast effects arise from cognitive rather than mere sensory or pre-cognitive perceptual causes. Social information gained inside the nest can also serve as a reference point: the quality of food received from other ants affected the perceived value of food found later. Value judgeme

SUBMITTER: Wendt S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6606023 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature