Thursday, January 31, 2008
"Bonus" and "Rebate"
Think of a "Bonus" as a "Rebate" to Save More
Tax rebates, year-end bonuses, mail-in savings—they're all just money coming in, but the difference in labels can have a serious impact on what we do with it, according to a Harvard researcher quoted in today's New York Times. In a study, half of the participants were given $50 and told it was a "bonus," and the other half received a "rebate." The results:
When unexpectedly contacted one week later, participants who got a "rebate" reported spending less than half of what those who got a "bonus" reported spending ($9.55 versus $22.04, respectively).
Tax rebates, year-end bonuses, mail-in savings—they're all just money coming in, but the difference in labels can have a serious impact on what we do with it, according to a Harvard researcher quoted in today's New York Times. In a study, half of the participants were given $50 and told it was a "bonus," and the other half received a "rebate." The results:
When unexpectedly contacted one week later, participants who got a "rebate" reported spending less than half of what those who got a "bonus" reported spending ($9.55 versus $22.04, respectively).
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Decision rules in Ms Pac Man
From a research project in Artificial intelligence where the researchers trained computers to succeed in playing Ms Pac-Man:
When the agent has to make a decision, she checks her rule list, starting with the rules with highest priority. In Ms. Pac-Man, ghost avoidance has the highest priority because ghosts will eat her. The next rule say that if there is an edible ghost on the board, then the agent should chase it, because eating ghosts results in the highest points.
One rule that the researchers found to be surprisingly effective was the rule that the agent should not turn back, if all directions are equally good. This rule prevents Ms. Pac-Man from traveling over paths where the dots have already been eaten, resulting in no points.
What are your heuristics? When are the rules of the game changing and are you changing your actions?
When the agent has to make a decision, she checks her rule list, starting with the rules with highest priority. In Ms. Pac-Man, ghost avoidance has the highest priority because ghosts will eat her. The next rule say that if there is an edible ghost on the board, then the agent should chase it, because eating ghosts results in the highest points.
One rule that the researchers found to be surprisingly effective was the rule that the agent should not turn back, if all directions are equally good. This rule prevents Ms. Pac-Man from traveling over paths where the dots have already been eaten, resulting in no points.
What are your heuristics? When are the rules of the game changing and are you changing your actions?
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
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