Evolution of value-based decision-making preferences in the population

Abstract: We are living in an uncertain and dynamically changing world, where optimal decision-making under uncertainty is directly linked to the survival of species. However, evolutionary selection pressures that shape value-based decision-making under uncertainty have thus far received limited attention. Here, we demonstrate that fitness associated with different value-based decision-making preferences is influenced by the value properties of the environment, as well as the characteristics and the density of competitors in the population. We show that risk-seeking tendencies will eventually dominate the population, when there are a relatively large number of discrete strategies competing in volatile value environments. These results may have important implications for behavioural ecology: (i) to inform the prediction that species which naturally exhibit risk-averse characteristics and live alongside risk-seeking competitors may be selected against; (ii) to potentially improve our understanding of day-traders value-based decision-making preferences in volatile financial markets in terms of an environmental adaptation.