We introduce a generalized theoretical approach to study imitation and subject it to rigorous experimental testing. In … our theoretical analysis we find that the different predictions of previous imitation models are due to different … effects of seemingly innocent changes in information. Moreover, the generalized imitation model predicts the differences …

play, imitation, reinforcement learning, and a trial & error process. We test whether subjects try to influence those … and that all learning algorithms are subject to exploitation with the notable exception of imitation. The experiment was …