Topic: hierarchical information processing

The human brain finds solutions to complex multi-stage decision problems that are far more flexible than those learned by artificial systems. Cognitive theories attribute this flexibility to specific algorithms such as hierarchical information processing and counterfactual reasoning. We first developed a moderately challenging multi-stage decision-making task as a baseline paradigm for evaluating the computational basis of cognitive strategies in humans. Comparing behavior to inference models implementing various cognitive algorithms, we found that humans use a hierarchical strategy to solve t