scholarly journals Sources of confidence in value-based choice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Polania
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Metacognitive Awareness ◽  
Decision Quality ◽  
Comparison Process ◽  
Immediate Feedback ◽  
Computational Framework ◽  
Decision Behavior ◽  
Economic Choice ◽  
Subjective Value

"Which meal would you like, chicken or pasta? Chicken please. ...hmmm not sure. No sorry, I prefer pasta". Confidence, the subjective estimate of decision quality, is an essential component of decision making. It is necessary for learning from mistakes in the absence of immediate feedback and guiding future actions. Despite its importance, it remains unclear where confidence judgments originate from, especially for decisions that rely on individual subjective values and preferences. Here, we devised a behavioural paradigm and a computational framework that allowed us to formally tease apart the sources of confidence in value-based decisions. In line with canonical decision theories, we found that trial-to-trial fluctuations in the precision of value encoding impact economic choice consistency. Surprisingly, however, and contrary to canonical theories of confidence, this uncertainty has no influence on confidence reports. Instead, we find that confidence reflects the degree of balance and cognitive effort with which the choice alternatives have been compared. Specifically, we show that confidence emerges from endogenous attentional effort towards choice alternatives and down-stream noise in the comparison process. These findings caution a direct translation of canonical frameworks of confidence based on perceptual decision behavior into the value-based choice domain. In addition our computational framework provides an explanation for confidence miss-attributions in economic behaviour and reveals the mechanistic interplay of endogenous attentional states and subjective value for guiding decisions and metacognitive awareness.

scholarly journals Sources of confidence in value-based choice

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeroen Brus ◽  
Helena Aebersold ◽  
Marcus Grueschow ◽  
Rafael Polania
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Process ◽  
Metacognitive Awareness ◽  
Decision Quality ◽  
Comparison Process ◽  
Computational Framework ◽  
Gaze Shift ◽  
Economic Decisions ◽  
Economic Choice ◽  
Shift Dynamics ◽  
The Impact

AbstractConfidence, the subjective estimate of decision quality, is a cognitive process necessary for learning from mistakes and guiding future actions. The origins of confidence judgments resulting from economic decisions remain unclear. We devise a task and computational framework that allowed us to formally tease apart the impact of various sources of confidence in value-based decisions, such as uncertainty emerging from encoding and decoding operations, as well as the interplay between gaze-shift dynamics and attentional effort. In line with canonical decision theories, trial-to-trial fluctuations in the precision of value encoding impact economic choice consistency. However, this uncertainty has no influence on confidence reports. Instead, confidence is associated with endogenous attentional effort towards choice alternatives and down-stream noise in the comparison process. These findings provide an explanation for confidence (miss)attributions in value-guided behaviour, suggesting mechanistic influences of endogenous attentional states for guiding decisions and metacognitive awareness of choice certainty.

scholarly journals Effort reinforces learning

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huw Jarvis ◽  
Isabelle Stevenson ◽  
Amy Q Huynh ◽  
Emily Babbage ◽  
James P. Coxon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Physical Force ◽  
Computational Framework ◽  
Subjective Value ◽  
Effort Discounting ◽  
Reinforced Learning

Humans routinely learn the value of actions by assessing their outcomes. Actions also require effort, and increasing evidence suggests that effort and learning share common neurophysiological substrates. Here, we asked whether effort could modulate teaching signals in a reinforcement learning task. Individuals (N=140) registered their choices by exerting predefined levels of physical force. Our key finding was that effort increased the subjective value of an outcome, regardless of whether that outcome was positive or negative. Moreover, across participants, the extent to which effort reinforced learning correlated with effort discounting, suggesting that effort has a greater effect on learning in those who are more averse to investing it. By integrating models of reinforcement learning with neuroeconomic frameworks of value-based decision-making, we show that learning is shaped by both rewards and the effort required to obtain them, thus revealing how effort and learning operate within a common computational framework.

scholarly journals Motivational effects on empathic choices

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda M Ferguson ◽  
Daryl Cameron ◽  
Michael Inzlicht
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Moral Character ◽  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Social Reward ◽  
Null Results ◽  
Subjective Value ◽  
Context Specific

Empathy often feels automatic, but variations in empathic responding suggest that, at least some of the time, empathy is affected by one’s motivation to empathize in any particular circumstance. Here, we show that people can be motivated to engage in (or avoid) empathy-eliciting situations with strangers, and that these decisions are driven by subjective value-based estimations of the costs (e.g., cognitive effort) and benefits (e.g., social reward) inherent to empathizing. Across seven experiments (overall N = 1,348), and replicating previous work (Cameron et al., 2019), we found a robust empathy avoidance effect. We also find support for the hypothesis that individuals can be motivated to opt-in to situations requiring empathy that they would otherwise avoid. Participants were more likely to opt into empathy-eliciting situations if 1) they were incentivized monetarily for doing so (Experiments 1a and 1b), and 2) if a more familiar and liked empathy target was available (Experiments 2a and 2b). Framing empathy as explicitly related to one’s moral character and reputation did not motivate participants to engage in empathy (Experiment 3a and 3c), though these null results may be due to a weak manipulation. These findings suggest that empathy can be motivated in multiple ways, and is a process driven by context-specific value-based decision making.

Cognitive Processing of Miscommunication in Interactive Listening: An Evaluation of Listener Indecision and Cognitive Effort

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Jennifer M. Roche ◽  
Arkady Zgonnikov ◽  
Laura M. Morett
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Mouse Tracking ◽  
Computer Mouse ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Computer Mouse Tracking ◽  
Listening Task ◽  
Processing Effort

Purpose The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the social and cognitive underpinnings of miscommunication during an interactive listening task. Method An eye and computer mouse–tracking visual-world paradigm was used to investigate how a listener's cognitive effort (local and global) and decision-making processes were affected by a speaker's use of ambiguity that led to a miscommunication. Results Experiments 1 and 2 found that an environmental cue that made a miscommunication more or less salient impacted listener language processing effort (eye-tracking). Experiment 2 also indicated that listeners may develop different processing heuristics dependent upon the speaker's use of ambiguity that led to a miscommunication, exerting a significant impact on cognition and decision making. We also found that perspective-taking effort and decision-making complexity metrics (computer mouse tracking) predict language processing effort, indicating that instances of miscommunication produced cognitive consequences of indecision, thinking, and cognitive pull. Conclusion Together, these results indicate that listeners behave both reciprocally and adaptively when miscommunications occur, but the way they respond is largely dependent upon the type of ambiguity and how often it is produced by the speaker.

scholarly journals Heart and Mind: Essential Components in Sound Decision-Making

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 364-364
Author(s):  
Michaela Clark ◽  
Julie Hicks Patrick ◽  
Michaela Reardon
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Quality ◽  
Cluster Solution ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Cluster Membership ◽  
Essential Components ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Affective Components ◽  
Heart And Mind

Abstract Consumer tasks permit an ecologically-valid context in which to examine the contributions of affective and cognitive resources to decision-making processes and outcomes. Although previous work shows that cognitive factors are important when individuals make decisions (Patrick et al., 2013; Queen et al.), the role of affective components is less clear. We examine these issues in two studies. Study 1 used data from 1000+ adults to inform a cluster analysis examining affective aspects (importance, meaningfulness) of making different types of decisions. A 4-cluster solution resulted. In Study 2, we used affective cluster membership and cognitive performance as predictors of experimental decision-making outcomes among a subset of participants (N = 60). Results of the regression (F(2, 40) = 6.51, p < .01, R2 = .25.) revealed that both the affective clusters (b = .37, p = .01) and cognitive ability (b = -.30, p = .04) uniquely contributed to the variance explained in decision quality. Age did not uniquely contribute. Results are discussed in the context of developing measures that enable us to move the field forward.

Perceived Affordances and Regret in Online Travel Agencies

2021 ◽  
pp. 004728752110149
Author(s):  
Hwirim Jo ◽  
Namho Chung ◽  
Sunyoung Hlee ◽  
Chulmo Koo
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Regulatory Focus ◽  
Group Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Impulsive Buying ◽  
Travel Agencies ◽  
Effective Decision Making ◽  
Online Travel ◽  
Online Travel Agencies

Despite the revolutionary system of online booking, the decision-making process for booking hotels is still very stressful for customers, who face much uncertainty. The wide range of products and great volume of information result in significant cognitive overload. Therefore, online travel agencies (OTAs) try to reduce customers’ cognitive effort requirements and to induce effective decision making by triggering potential actions through perceived affordance. This study aims to explore the influence of perceived affordance on purchase decisions and postpurchase emotion in the context of OTAs. The findings show that explicit affordance and hidden affordance significantly affect impulsive buying, thus resulting in postpurchase discomfort and regret. Additionally, the outcomes of a multiple group analysis revealed a significant moderating effect of regulatory focus orientation on impulsive buying and postpurchase regret during an overall purchase process involving OTAs.

Jumping to conclusions – an analysis of the NBA Draft Combine athleticism data and its influence on managerial decision-making

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Berger ◽  
Frank Daumann
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Decision Quality ◽  
Managerial Behavior ◽  
Managerial Decision ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Selection Behavior

PurposeThe NBA Draft policy pursues the goal to provide the weakest teams with the most talented young players to close the gap to the superior competition. But it hinges on appropriate talent evaluation skills of the respective organizations. Research suggests the policy might be valid but to date unable to produce its intended results due to the “human judgement-factor”. This paper investigates specific managerial selection-behavior-influencing information to examine why decision-makers seem to fail to constantly seize the opportunities the draft presents them with.Design/methodology/approachAthleticism data produced within the NBA Draft Combine setting is strongly considered in the player evaluations and consequently informs the draft decisions of NBA managers. Curiously, research has failed to find much predictive power within the players pre-draft combine results for their post-draft performance. This paper investigates this clear disconnect, by examining the pre- and post-draft data from 2000 to 2019 using principal component and regression analysis.FindingsEvidence for an athletic-induced decision-quality-lowering bias within the NBA Draft process was found. The analysis proves that players with better NBA Draft Combine results tend to get drafted earlier. Controlling for position, age and pre-draft performance there seems to be no proper justification based on post-draft performance for this managerial behavior. This produces systematic errors within the structure of the NBA Draft process and leads to problematic outcomes for the entire league-policy.Originality/valueThe paper delivers first evidence for an athleticism-induced decision-making bias regarding the NBA Draft process. Informing future selection-behavior of managers this research could improve NBA Draft decision-making quality.

The Impact of Conflict- Generating Techniques on Student Reactions and Decision Quality

1995 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 39-45
Author(s):  
Granger Macy ◽  
Joan C. Neal
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Decision Quality ◽  
Structured Decision Making ◽  
Constructive Conflict ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Student Reactions ◽  
Graduate Business Students ◽  
The Impact

This study examined the effectiveness of conflict-generating decision-making techniques in the college classroom. Utiliz ing constructive conflict in classroom exercises may affect decision-making quality and student reactions. This study of undergraduate and graduate business students found significant difference in both the quality of the decisions and in student reactions to the techniques. The findings and discussion indicate the potential for appropriate use of structured decision-making techniques in the classroom.

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