Ecology of mind

Learning context  (quality of avocados increases from left to right)

At Trader Joes  [ (others)  (haas) ]
At Scolaris [ (haas)  (mex)  (others) ] 

Context dependent learning is better suited to learning in natural settings than artificial ones. Learning the quality of different avocados by sampling from selections at different store-locations improves decision making in the wild where choices come up one after another. Context dependent learning is less suited to decision making in a warehouse where choices are presented all at once in a single location. It's the difference between seeing [(haas) (mex) (others) ] in one location as opposed to seeing them appear one at a time in different locations:  

[ (haas) ]        where you’ve learned that mex generally beats haas

[ (mex) ]               but in some instances other varieties are better

[ ( others) ]            ..so it pays to keep looking.

Economists say that humans deviate from optimal choice when making context-dependent choices. On Wall Street or in a classroom, context information can be misleading. Economists call this the “more-is-less effect”. I’d say they lack ecological perspective. There’s a reason humans are sensitive to context. Psychologists are finding out that it has adaptive value in nature that you don’t see in a classroom or trading floor. It helps people make ‘optimal choices’ about which trail to take and what foods to eat in the wild. In an experiment using a species of birds called starlings, researchers at Oxford found that even though context learning may hinder performance in simultaneous prey choices; it improves performance in sequential prey encounters where subjects could reject opportunities in order to search the background. Because sequential prey encounters are more likely in nature, storing and using contextual information has greater ecological value than economists give it credit for.

Freidin et al. Science 18 November 2011 [link]