Traces of Search in Space and Mind

Explore the connections between spatial search and cognitive search in a conference talk presented by Peter Todd from Indiana University Bloomington at IPAM's Analyzing High-dimensional Traces of Intelligent Behavior Workshop. Delve into the adaptive trade-offs organisms make between exploring and exploiting their environment for resources, whether in spatial or information environments. Examine how people's behavior in searching semantic memory often mirrors foraging for food in space, producing concepts in clustered patches and switching to new areas when productivity decreases. Investigate the challenges of testing memory foraging models, including the need to determine deliberate switches using similarity metrics. Consider how high-dimensional spaces can yield traces of search behavior that require different analytical approaches, as people may create extended fluid patches linking distant concepts without actually switching between patches. Gain insights into ongoing research studying these connections across various spaces and intelligent agents, offering a comprehensive look at the explore/exploit tradeoff in both physical and cognitive domains.