Jie Wu

In the auditory domain, the role of auditory working memory in shaping strategy selection and performance within both auditory rule-based and information-integration tasks remains unclear. To address this issue, the present study utilized a concurrent auditory working memory paradigm to investigate the impact of working memory on rule-based and information-integration category learning within the auditory domain. Additionally, we employed a categorization strategy model and drift-diffusion model to examine the impact of auditory working memory on auditory category learning. The categorization strategies model revealed that significantly more participants employed the optimal strategy in the control condition compared to the concurrent working memory condition in both the rule-based and information-integration tasks. Furthermore, given that most participants used the rule-based strategy in the information-integration task, the results showed a decrease in accuracy and an increase in reaction time for the concurrent working memory condition relative to the control condition in rule-based category learning. According to the drift-diffusion model, this decline observed under the concurrent working memory condition can be attributed to a reduction in information accumulation speed, increased cautious decision-making, and longer nondecision time. This study suggests that the concurrent working memory task interfered with participants’ strategy selection and performance, with decreased performance in the concurrent working memory condition stemming from slower information accumulation and extended nondecision time for the rule-based strategy, while more cautious decision-making was related to the information-integration strategy.

The constant challenge in social interactions involves making informed decisions in the face of competitive and cooperative dilemmas. The decision-making process can be influenced by various factors present in the social context. According to the behavior-pattern-categorization framework of information acquisition, potential biases may develop at all stages of decision-making as information about social context is progressively entered and integrated. In this study, employing the Chicken Game, we investigated the influence of varying information levels within the behavior-pattern-categorization framework (i.e., competitiveness of behavior choice, uncertainty of behavior pattern, and sociality of category) on decision-making in the dilemma of competition and cooperation. Combined with reinforcement learning models, our findings from three experiments showed that participants exhibited basic complementary behavior, becoming less competitive against highly competitive opponents and vice versa. Notably, individuals exhibited varying adaptation rates to different levels of opponent competitiveness and fluctuations. Specifically, participants adapted slower to highly competitive opponents and faster to cooperative opponents. This asymmetric adaptation in social learning is related to the rate at which various levels of information are updated. The current study disentangles the different levels of information acquisition and highlights the asymmetric processing that can occur during the updating of information within each level.