An fMRI study of exploitation and exploration decisions

What is it about?

People tend to stick to what they know. Successful decision makers, though, understand when it is appropriate to change strategy. We identify, at the neurological level, which cognitive skills enable expert individuals to switch to exploratory strategies. Attention control capabilities are the driving force behind this ability.

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Why is it important?

This is one of the first studies using fMRI to study decision making in a sample of expert business leaders. It shows that, at the individual level, people are not ambidextrous: they have to switch between exploitation and exploration. Attention control capabilities underpin this switch. These abilities can be trained, hence our implication are mainly for training and education, not for selection.