EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Expertise increases planning depth in human gameplay

Bas Opheusden (), Ionatan Kuperwajs, Gianni Galbiati, Zahy Bnaya, Yunqi Li and Wei Ji Ma
Additional contact information
Bas Opheusden: New York University
Ionatan Kuperwajs: New York University
Gianni Galbiati: New York University
Zahy Bnaya: New York University
Yunqi Li: New York University
Wei Ji Ma: New York University

Nature, 2023, vol. 618, issue 7967, 1000-1005

Abstract: Abstract A hallmark of human intelligence is the ability to plan multiple steps into the future1,2. Despite decades of research3–5, it is still debated whether skilled decision-makers plan more steps ahead than novices6–8. Traditionally, the study of expertise in planning has used board games such as chess, but the complexity of these games poses a barrier to quantitative estimates of planning depth. Conversely, common planning tasks in cognitive science often have a lower complexity9,10 and impose a ceiling for the depth to which any player can plan. Here we investigate expertise in a complex board game that offers ample opportunity for skilled players to plan deeply. We use model fitting methods to show that human behaviour can be captured using a computational cognitive model based on heuristic search. To validate this model, we predict human choices, response times and eye movements. We also perform a Turing test and a reconstruction experiment. Using the model, we find robust evidence for increased planning depth with expertise in both laboratory and large-scale mobile data. Experts memorize and reconstruct board features more accurately. Using complex tasks combined with precise behavioural modelling might expand our understanding of human planning and help to bridge the gap with progress in artificial intelligence.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06124-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:618:y:2023:i:7967:d:10.1038_s41586-023-06124-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06124-2

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().

 
Page updated 2025-05-04
Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:618:y:2023:i:7967:d:10.1038_s41586-023-06124-2