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Satisficing in split-second decision making is characterized by strategic cue discounting

Publication ,  Journal Article
Oh, H; Beck, JM; Zhu, P; Sommer, MA; Ferrari, S; Egner, T
Published in: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition
December 2016

Much of our real-life decision making is bounded by uncertain information, limitations in cognitive resources, and a lack of time to allocate to the decision process. It is thought that humans overcome these limitations through satisficing, fast but “good-enough” heuristic decision making that prioritizes some sources of information (cues) while ignoring others. However, the decision-making strategies we adopt under uncertainty and time pressure, for example during emergencies that demand split-second choices, are presently unknown. To characterize these decision strategies quantitatively, the present study examined how people solve a novel multi-cue probabilistic classification task under varying time pressure, by tracking shifts in decision strategies using variational Bayesian inference. We found that under low time pressure, participants correctly weighted and integrated all available cues to arrive at near-optimal decisions. With increasingly demanding, sub-second time pressures, however, participants systematically discounted a subset of the cue information by dropping the least informative cue(s) from their decision making process. Thus, the human cognitive apparatus copes with uncertainty and severe time pressure by adopting a “Drop-the-Worst” cue decision making strategy that minimizes cognitive time and effort investment while preserving the consideration of the most diagnostic cue information, thus maintaining “good-enough” accuracy. This advance in our understanding of satisficing strategies could form the basis of predicting human choices in high time pressure scenarios.

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Published In

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition

DOI

ISSN

1939-1285

Publication Date

December 2016

Volume

42

Issue

12

Start / End Page

1937 / 1956

Publisher

American Psychological Association

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Time Factors
  • Stress, Psychological
  • Reaction Time
  • Psychological Tests
  • Probability
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Logistic Models
  • Judgment
 

Citation

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Oh, H., Beck, J. M., Zhu, P., Sommer, M. A., Ferrari, S., & Egner, T. (2016). Satisficing in split-second decision making is characterized by strategic cue discounting. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42(12), 1937–1956. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000284
Oh, H., J. M. Beck, P. Zhu, M. A. Sommer, S. Ferrari, and T. Egner. “Satisficing in split-second decision making is characterized by strategic cue discounting.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 42, no. 12 (December 2016): 1937–56. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000284.
Oh H, Beck JM, Zhu P, Sommer MA, Ferrari S, Egner T. Satisficing in split-second decision making is characterized by strategic cue discounting. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. 2016 Dec;42(12):1937–56.
Oh, H., et al. “Satisficing in split-second decision making is characterized by strategic cue discounting.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, vol. 42, no. 12, American Psychological Association, Dec. 2016, pp. 1937–56. Manual, doi:10.1037/xlm0000284.
Oh H, Beck JM, Zhu P, Sommer MA, Ferrari S, Egner T. Satisficing in split-second decision making is characterized by strategic cue discounting. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. American Psychological Association; 2016 Dec;42(12):1937–1956.

Published In

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition

DOI

ISSN

1939-1285

Publication Date

December 2016

Volume

42

Issue

12

Start / End Page

1937 / 1956

Publisher

American Psychological Association

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Time Factors
  • Stress, Psychological
  • Reaction Time
  • Psychological Tests
  • Probability
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Logistic Models
  • Judgment