Cognitive load and mixed strategies: On brains and minimax

Sean Duffy, Jj Naddeo, David Owens and John Smith

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: It is well-known that laboratory subjects often do not play mixed strategy equilibrium games according to the equilibrium predictions. In particular, subjects often mix with the incorrect proportions and their actions often exhibit serial correlation. However, little is known about the role of cognition in these observations. We conduct an experiment where subjects play a repeated hide and seek game against a computer opponent programmed to play either a strategy that can be exploited by the subject (a naive strategy) or designed to exploit suboptimal play of the subject (an exploitative strategy). The subjects play with either fewer available cognitive resources (under a high cognitive load) or with more available cognitive resources (under a low cognitive load). While we observe that subjects do not mix in the predicted proportions and their actions exhibit serial correlation, we do not find strong evidence these are related to their available cognitive resources. This suggests that the standard laboratory results on mixed strategies are not associated with the availability of cognitive resources. Surprisingly, we find evidence that subjects under a high load earn more than subjects under a low load. However, we also find that subjects under a low cognitive load exhibit a greater rate of increase in earnings across rounds than subjects under a high load.

Keywords: bounded rationality; experimental economics; working memory load; cognition; learning; mixed strategies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C72 C91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-06-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-exp, nep-gth, nep-hpe, nep-net and nep-neu
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Cognitive Load and Mixed Strategies: On Brains and Minimax (2024)
Working Paper: Cognitive load and mixed strategies: On brains and minimax (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:71878

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