We report on an experiment examining whether individuals can solve a simple signal extraction problem of the type found in models with imperfect information. In one treatment, subjects must form point predictions based on observing both public and private signals, while in another they receive the same information but must decide on the weight to attach to each signal, which then determines their point prediction. We find that, at the aggregate level, signal extraction provides a good characterization of subjects’ behavior in both treatments, but at the individual level, there is considerable heterogeneity in subjects’ ability to perform signal extraction.

我们报告了一项实验，该实验检查个人是否可以解决信息不完善的模型中发现的简单信号提取问题。在一种治疗中，受试者必须基于对公共和私人信号的观察来形成点预测，而在另一种治疗中，受试者接收相同的信息，但必须确定要附加到每个信号上的权重，然后再确定其点预测。我们发现，在总体水平上，信号提取可很好地表征两种治疗方法中受试者的行为，但在个体水平上，受试者执行信号提取的能力存在很大的异质性。