Voluntary Information Acquisition in an Asymmetric-Information Game: Comparing Learning Theories in the Laboratory

This paper proposes an experimental design of voluntary information acquisition to discriminate among different learning models and implements this design in two-stage asymmetric-information games. Subjects information-seeking behavior reveals that, in relation to belief-updating, they tend to choose certain information set that is consistent with belief-based learning theories rather than reinforcement theories. A hybrid learning model with information acquisition- a variant of the Generalized Experience-Weighted-Attraction model (Shafran, 2012) - is also proposed. It successfully captures the different learning speeds of players with asymmetric roles at the aggregate level, and shows that players best respond to information that they choose to examine. This study suggests that tracking subjects voluntary information choice is a complementary tool for analyzing players learning behaviors.