Why unchosen options linger in our minds

Abstract

In the 1930s, philosopher John Dewey stated: “We do not learn from experience… we learn from reflecting on experience.” The question of how we learn from the consequences of our actions has been investigated for decades. When deliberating between options, it is assumed that the outcome of our choice is used as a feedback signal to learn the value of the chosen option. But what about the forgone alternative? In a recent paper, Biderman and Shohamy show that we also revise the valuation of forgone options, assuming them to be inversely related to that of chosen ones.