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Cognitive constraints increase estimation biases: Cognitive load and delay in judgments

Author

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  • Allred, Sarah
  • Crawford, L. Elizabeth
  • Duffy, Sean
  • Smith, John

Abstract

Previous work has demonstrated that memory for simple stimuli can be biased by information about the category of which the stimulus is a member. These biases have been interpreted as optimally integrating noisy sensory information with category information. A separate literature has demonstrated that cognitive load can lead to biases in social cognition. Here we link the two, asking whether delay (Experiment 1) and cognitive load (Experiment 2) affect the extent to which observers' memories for simple line stimuli are affected by category information. We found that delay and cognitive load have similar effects: both manipulations increase the weight of category information on memory for stimuli. We discuss the broad implications of such findings on fields such as eyewitness testimony.

Suggested Citation

  • Allred, Sarah & Crawford, L. Elizabeth & Duffy, Sean & Smith, John, 2014. "Cognitive constraints increase estimation biases: Cognitive load and delay in judgments," MPRA Paper 58314, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:58314
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/58314/1/MPRA_paper_58314.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Allred, Sarah & Duffy, Sean & Smith, John, 2016. "Cognitive load and strategic sophistication," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 162-178.
    2. Oechssler, Jörg & Roider, Andreas & Schmitz, Patrick W., 2009. "Cognitive abilities and behavioral biases," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 147-152, October.
    3. Duffy, Sean & Smith, John, 2011. "Cognitive load in the multi-player prisoner's dilemma game," MPRA Paper 30856, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Paymon Ashourian & Yonatan Loewenstein, 2011. "Bayesian Inference Underlies the Contraction Bias in Delayed Comparison Tasks," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(5), pages 1-8, May.
    5. Shiv, Baba & Fedorikhin, Alexander, 1999. "Heart and Mind in Conflict: The Interplay of Affect and Cognition in Consumer Decision Making," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 26(3), pages 278-292, December.
    6. Bergman, Oscar & Ellingsen, Tore & Johannesson, Magnus & Svensson, Cicek, 2010. "Anchoring and cognitive ability," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 107(1), pages 66-68, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Allred, Sarah & Duffy, Sean & Smith, John, 2016. "Cognitive load and strategic sophistication," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 162-178.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    cognitive load; delay; judgment; estimation biases; memory; category effects;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior

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