How the Mind Exploits Risk-Reward Structures in Decisions under Risk

Christina Leuker, Timothy J. Pleskac, Thorsten Pachur, Ralph Hertwig

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

In many natural domains, risks and rewards are inversely related (Pleskac & Hertwig, 2014). We sought to understand how people might use this relationship in choosing among risky gambles. To do so we, manipulated risk-reward structures of monetary gambles to be either negatively or positively correlated, or uncorrelated. After substantial exposure to these environments, participants completed a speeded choice task among non-dominated gambles. Eye-tracking data from this task suggests that participants often shifted their attention to mainly one attribute in the correlated conditions, in which the risk-reward relationship was present. This was an adaptive strategy that resulted in a similar proportion of expected-value maximizing choices, compared to a more compensatory processing strategy.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCogSci 2017 - Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society
Subtitle of host publicationComputational Foundations of Cognition
PublisherThe Cognitive Science Society
Pages2543-2548
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9780991196760
StatePublished - 2017
Externally publishedYes
Event39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Computational Foundations of Cognition, CogSci 2017 - London, United Kingdom
Duration: 26 Jul 201729 Jul 2017

Publication series

NameCogSci 2017 - Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Computational Foundations of Cognition

Conference

Conference39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Computational Foundations of Cognition, CogSci 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityLondon
Period26/07/1729/07/17

Keywords

  • adaptive cognition
  • attention
  • decisions under risk
  • noncompensatory processing
  • risk-reward relationship

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