Readings content

What is the availability heuristic?

Reasoning on the basis of how easily information is recovered from memory. Conclusions drawn may reflect the acceptance of the first thing that comes to mind

Describe Tversky and Kahneman's (1973/1983) word frame experiment (_ _ _ _ i n g vs. _ _ _ _ n ) and its findings regarding the availability heuristic.

Participants produced more words for _ _ _ _ i n g (frame i) than _ _ _ _ n (frame ii). They also estimated higher frequency for ing words. This was explained because ing words are more accessible/recoverable in memory

What is the representativeness heuristic?

Deciding an object or person belongs to a category because it/he/she appears typical or representative of that category

What is base-rate neglect?

Failing to adequately take into account the relative frequency of an event within a given population (base-rate information) when making judgments

Describe the medical diagnosis problem used to illustrate base rate neglect.

Participants were given information about a disease prevalence (e.g., 1 per 1000), test sensitivity (e.g., 95% positive if disease present), and false positive rate (e.g., 1% positive if no disease). They often gave a high probability (e.g., 95%) of having the disease given a positive test, neglecting the low base rate, instead of the correct lower probability (e.g., 18%)

When are people more likely to use base-rate information in everyday life, according to Krynski and Tenenbaum (2007)?

When they possess relevant causal knowledge. The wording of the problem matters; a benign cyst scenario led to more use of base rates than a standard false positive scenario

When might people ignore base-rate information even if relevant?

When the information is disadvantageous to them. (e.g., in a health test where a positive result indicates a problem, people tend to argue the test is inaccurate, neglecting the base rate of test inaccuracy)

Name at least four heuristic biases.

Conjunction fallacy, Base rate neglect, Availability bias, Anchoring and adjustment bias, Hindsight bias, Overconfidence bias

According to Kahneman's dual-process theory, what are the two systems of thinking?

System 1 (fast, autonomous, unconscious, implicit, emotional) and System 2 (slower, sequential, conscious, deliberate, controlled)

What is a "cognitive miser" according to dual-process theory?

Someone who is economical with their time and effort when performing a thinking task. System 2 monitoring of System 1 often fails, leading to errors even when System 1 generates incorrect answers

What hypothesis, associated with Gigerenzer, proposes that people reason naturally in terms of frequencies rather than probabilities?

The Natural Frequency Hypothesis. This format may facilitate thought by placing fewer demands on the cognitive system

How does framing a probability problem in frequentist terms (e.g., 'X out of 100') affect performance on tasks like the conjunction fallacy or medical diagnosis problem?

It can greatly improve performance and reduce errors compared to using probability terms

What concept, related to Gigerenzer's view, suggests the mind has evolved specialized heuristics for specific real-world problems?

The mind as an "adaptive toolbox" comprising specific fast and frugal heuristics

What is bounded rationality?

The notion that people are as rational as the environment and their limited processing capacity permit. Human reasoning operates within real-world constraints like memory limits, limited knowledge, and time pressure

Describe the "take-the-best" heuristic.

A fast-and-frugal heuristic where one searches cues in order of validity, stops after finding a discriminatory cue (applies to one option but not the other), and chooses the option favoured by that cue, ignoring other information

What is "satisficing"?

A decision-making strategy of choosing the first option that satisfies the individual's minimum requirements (a blend of 'satisfactory' and 'sufficing'). It doesn't guarantee the best decision but is useful, especially when options appear sequentially

According to prospect theory, how are outcomes evaluated in decision-making?

Relative to a reference point, and evaluated as gains or losses

What is loss aversion in prospect theory?

The finding that people have a greater subjective impact of individuals' losses than gains of the same magnitude. This explains why many people avoid 50:50 bets where potential losses outweigh potential gains

What is the framing effect?

The finding that decisions can be influenced by situational aspects irrelevant to optimal decision-making, such as the problem's wording

Describe the Asian disease problem used to demonstrate the framing effect.

Participants choose between programs to combat a disease expected to kill 600 people. Choices differ drastically depending on whether the options are framed in terms of lives saved (gain frame) or lives lost (loss frame)

What is "insight" in problem-solving?

The experience of suddenly realising how to solve a problem

What brain region is specifically associated with insight solutions compared to non-insight solutions, according to Bowden et al. (2005)?

The right hemisphere anterior superior temporal gyrus (RH-aSTG). This area is linked to processing distant semantic relations

What is functional fixedness?

A type of mental set where individuals are fixated on the typical function of an object, making it difficult to see how it could be used in a novel way to solve a problem

How did Duncker's candle problem demonstrate functional fixedness?

Participants struggled to see the tack box as a platform to hold the candle on the wall; they were fixated on its function as a container for tacks. Performance improved if the box was empty

What is analogical problem solving?

Using past experience and knowledge to detect and use similarities (analogies) between a current problem and previously solved ones to assist in solving the current task

What are the typical stages involved in analogical reasoning?

Encoding the problem, Mapping the analogy, and producing a Response

What brain region is crucial for integrating information within analogical problems?

The rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (RLPFC), approximately BA10

What areas of the prefrontal cortex are involved in inhibitory processes necessary for successful analogical problem solving (e.g., ignoring distractors)?

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG)

What cognitive capacity is strongly correlated with performance on measures of fluid intelligence like Raven's Progressive Matrices, which involve geometric analogies?

Working memory capacity. A meta-analysis found a correlation of +0.50

According to Gobet's Template Theory of chess expertise, what abstract structures do experts store to aid rapid processing?

Templates, which consist of a fixed core and variable slots, storing information about chess pieces and positions

How does template theory explain the superior performance of expert chess players in blitz chess (very limited time)?

Their performance relies mainly on superior template-based knowledge, which can be accessed rapidly, rather than slow searching through possible moves

How does eye-tracking research on medical experts (e.g., radiologists) examining images differ from non-experts?

Experts show shorter fixations, faster first fixations on task-relevant information, more fixations on relevant areas, fewer on irrelevant areas, and longer saccades. Experts often fixate on crucial areas almost immediately

What models are supported by the eye-tracking findings in medical expertise?

The information-reduction hypothesis (increasingly efficient and selective attention) and the holistic model (extracting information from a wider area per fixation)

What is "plasticity" in the context of brain development and expertise?

Changes in structure and function of the brain that affect behaviour and are related to experience or training

What is Long-Term Working Memory, as proposed by Ericsson and Chase?

A mechanism used by experts to rapidly store relevant information directly into long-term memory and access it through retrieval cues in working memory, giving the appearance of an expanded working memory capacity. Demonstrated by SF's dramatic increase in digit span