“Neuro”‐Observational Learning

We propose a simple model in which an agent observes not only the choices made by others, but also some information about the process that led them to those choices. We consider two cases: In the first, an agent observes whether another agent has compared the alternatives before making his choice. In the second, an agent observes the time invested in deliberation before the other agent makes his choice. It is shown that the probability of making a mistake is higher in the second case, and that the existence of these non‐standard “neuro” observations systematically biases the equilibrium distribution of choices. The second author acknowledges financial support from ERC grant 269143. We would like to thank Zvi Artstein, Hadar Binsky, Tom Cunningham and especially Neil Thakral for their assistance.