ABSTRACT
For both humans and animals, choice is a necessary part of life. Some choices mark global decisions (e.g., for whom to cast a vote, whom to choose as a mate), but the majority of choices, encountered in daily life, have more immediate consequences and tend not to evoke explicit, deliberate reasoning (e.g., which route to take to work, in which patch to forage for food). This chapter focuses on the processes mediating the latter kind of choice—choice in service of a local goal—particularly when the chooser has repeated exposures to the same choice point. Problem-solving tasks offer many examples of choice in service of a local goal. For example, when working on a problem (e.g., solving an algebra equation), solvers often have multiple strategies available (e.g., graphing, quadratic formula) and must choose among these strategies in order to progress toward the local goal of reaching a solution. The same framework maps onto many animal choice situations. For example, in foraging, the animal’s goal is to obtain some food, and the choices are the multiple patches in which food may be sought.
