Does Playing Against an Error Prone Opponent Influence Learning in Nim?
Abstract
When learning to play a game well, does it help to play against an opponent who makes the same sort of mistakes one tends to make or is it better to play against a procedurally rational algorithm, which never makes mistakes? This paper investigates subject performance in the game of Nim. We nd evidence that subject performance improves more when playing against a human opponent than against a procedurally rational algorithm. We also nd that subjects learn to recognize certain heuristics that improve their overall performance in more complex games.
Description
PoliticalEconomySubject
1401Bounded rationality
Learning
Heuristics
Perfect Information
Nim
Human Behavior
Experiment
Collections
Citation
McKinney, C. Nicholas, Jr.; Van Huyck, John (2014). Does Playing Against an Error Prone Opponent Influence Learning in Nim?. Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University; Texas A&M University. Library. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /199370.