正文
算法概率还使我们更易找到（并压缩）看似随机的信息。“这是一个范式转移（paradigm shift），”Zenil 说，“因为即使大多数研究者都认同在头脑运作的方式中存在这个算法组件，我们也无法测量它，因为我们没有合适的工具。不过我们现在已经在研究中开发并引入了。
Zenil 和他的团队计划继续探索人类算法复杂度，并希望发现行为随机性与年龄之间关系的认知机制。不过，他们首先计划以确诊患有神经退行性疾病和精神紊乱的人（如阿尔茨海默氏症和精神分裂症）为对象展开研究。据Zenil 估计，确诊有这类疾病的参与者不会像对照组中的参与者一样，产生或感知随机性，因为他们经常会产生更多的联想，并能比普通人观察到更多的模式。
这些研究人员已蓄势待发。 Dodig-Crnkovic 说：“他们在复杂度上的研究，是一个很有前途的研究方向。”
原文链接：
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/our-ability-to-keep-em-guessing-peaks-around-age-251/?WT.mc_id=SA_TW_MB_NEWS
论文基本信息
【标题】Human behavioral complexity peaks at age 25
【作者】Nicolas Gauvrit, Hector Zenil , Fernando Soler-Toscano, Jean-Paul Delahaye, Peter Brugger
【期刊】
PLoS Computational Biology
【日期】2017.4.13
【DOI】10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005408
【摘要】
Random Item Generation tasks (RIG) are commonly used to assess high cognitive abilities such as inhibition or sustained attention. They also draw upon our approximate sense of complexity. A detrimental effect of aging on pseudo-random productions has been demonstrated for some tasks, but little is as yet known about the developmental curve of cognitive complexity over the lifespan. We investigate the complexity trajectory across the lifespan of human responses to five common RIG tasks, using a large sample (n = 3429). Our main finding is that the developmental curve of the estimated algorithmic complexity of responses is similar to what may be expected of a measure of higher cognitive abilities, with a performance peak around 25 and a decline starting around 60, suggesting that RIG tasks yield good estimates of such cognitive abilities. Our study illustrates that very short strings of, i.e., 10 items, are sufficient to have their complexity reliably estimated and to allow the documentation of an age-dependent decline in the approximate sense of complexity.
【链接】
http://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005408
