![]() On the contrary, random exploration is essentially a noisy response-generation process, leading to choices made by chance. Directed exploration is intentional and specifically related to information-seeking targeted at the most uncertain option. This crucial distinction between two qualitatively different types of exploration-directed and random exploration-has recently gained growing attention in the literature (Payzan-LeNestour & Bossaerts, 2012 Schulz & Gershman, 2019 Schwartenbeck et al., 2019 Wilson et al., 2014 Zajkowski et al., 2017). From this perspective, the occasional switches from the prepotent value-driven advantageous response tendency to a disadvantageous choice in the probabilistic task may be considered as directed exploration-exploratory behavior that occurs when our desire for information overrides our need for reward. In this respect, exploring uncertain options instead of continuously exploiting a more rewarding alternative might bring new information about possible rewards, and thus might increase payoffs in the long run (Cogliati Dezza et al., 2017 Sayfulina et al., 2020). In contrast to typical artificial experimental conditions, outcomes of one’s actions in real life may be nonrandom and interdependent, e.g., the outcome of the next trial may be a consequence of the outcome of the previous trial. In fact, by doing so in probabilistic experimental tasks involving truly random and mutually independent choice outcomes, they actually fail to maximize their profits (Guttel & Harel, 2005 Unturbe & Corominas, 2007 Vulkan, 2000). Attempting to test their surmises and catch a lucky break, people explore apparently disadvantageous options instead of just sticking to familiar profitable ones (Shanks et al., 2002). “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” – will you follow this common wisdom, or will you ever abandon something good you already have and venture into the unknown in the vague hope of a bigger win? In a probabilistic environment, people usually tend to imagine hidden regularities in the outcomes of their actions, even when no such regularities actually exist (Ellerby & Tunney, 2017 Unturbe & Corominas, 2007). This exploratory strategy shifts choice priorities in favor of information seeking and its autonomic and behavioral concomitants are mainly driven by the conflict between the behavioral plan of the intended exploratory choice and its strong alternative, which has already proven to be more rewarding. These findings suggest that occasional disadvantageous choices, which violate the acquired internal utility model, represent directed exploration. Pupil size modulations were evident during the behavioral choice rather than during the pretrial baseline. For the pupil size, this effect was strongly amplified for those disadvantageous choices that immediately followed gains as compared to losses in the preceding choice. We found that disadvantageous choices were associated with increases both in response time and pupil size, but only after the participants had learned the choice-reward contingencies. We proposed that before a true value of each choice became known to a decision-maker, both advantageous and disadvantageous choices represented a random exploration of the two options with an equally uncertain outcome, whereas the same choices after learning manifested exploitation and direct exploration strategies, respectively. ![]() Using LMM analysis, we estimated differences in the pupil size and response time between the advantageous and disadvantageous choices as a function of learning success, i.e., whether or not a participant has learned the probabilistic contingency between choices and their outcomes. Eighty-nine participants performed the two-choice probabilistic learning task while their pupil size and response time were continuously recorded. This study examined whether pupil size and response time would distinguish directed exploration from random exploration and exploitation.
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