Working memory dynamics bias the generation of beliefs: The influence of data presentation rate on hypothesis generation

Although temporal dynamics are inherent aspects of diagnostic tasks, few studies have investigated how various aspects of time course influence hypothesis generation. An experiment is reported that demonstrates that working memory dynamics operating during serial data acquisition bias hypothesis gen...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychonomic bulletin & review 2013-02, Vol.20 (1), p.171-176
Main Authors: Lange, Nicholas D., Thomas, Rick P., Buttaccio, Daniel R., Illingworth, David A., Davelaar, Eddy J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Biological and medical sciences
Brief Report
Cognition. Intelligence
Cognitive Psychology
Cues
Decision making
Decision Making - physiology
Decision making. Choice
Disease
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Hypotheses
Hypothesis testing
Influence
Learning. Memory
Medical diagnosis
Memory
Memory, Short-Term - physiology
Mental Recall
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Response time
Studies
Theory
Time Factors
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Although temporal dynamics are inherent aspects of diagnostic tasks, few studies have investigated how various aspects of time course influence hypothesis generation. An experiment is reported that demonstrates that working memory dynamics operating during serial data acquisition bias hypothesis generation. The presentation rate (and order) of a sequence of serially presented symptoms was manipulated to be either fast (180 ms per symptom) or slow (1,500 ms per symptom) in a simulated medical diagnosis task. When the presentation rate was slow, participants chose the disease hypothesis consistent with the symptoms appearing later in the sequence. When the presentation rate was fast, however, participants chose the disease hypothesis consistent with the symptoms appearing earlier in the sequence, therefore representing a novel primacy effect. We predicted and account for this effect through competitive working memory dynamics governing information acquisition and the contribution of maintained information to the retrieval of hypotheses from long-term memory.
ISSN:1069-9384
1531-5320
DOI:10.3758/s13423-012-0316-9