Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: Combining meaning, memory, and development, the perennially popular topic of intuition can be approached in a new way. Fuzzy-trace theory integrates these topics by distinguishing between meaning-based gist representations, which support fuzzy (yet advanced) intuition, and superficial verbatim representations of information, which support precise analysis. Here, I review the counterintuitive findings that led to the development of the theory and its most recent extensions to the neuroscience of risky decision making. These findings include memory interference (worse verbatim memory is associated with better reasoning); nonnumerical framing (framing effects increase when numbers are deleted from decision problems); developmental decreases in gray matter and increases in brain connectivity; developmental reversals in memory, judgment, and decision making (heuristics and biases based on gist increase from childhood to adulthood, challenging conceptions of rationality); and selective attention effects that provide critical tests comparing fuzzy-trace theory, expected utility theory, and its variants (e.g., prospect theory). Surprising implications for judgment and decision making in real life are also discussed, notably, that adaptive decision making relies mainly on gist-based intuition in law, medicine, and public health.
Source: Judgment and Decision Making
Author: Valerie F. Reyna
Institution: Cornell University
Language: English
Subfield: General Decision Sciences
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,550
Awards: Interventions for Risk Reduction and Avoidance in Youth, Development of Higher Order Cognitive Processes in Adolescence and Young Adulthood: Social, Behavioral, and Biological Influences on Learning, Low-Burden Tools for Improving Prediction and Diagnosis of Cognitive Impairment., A Web Tutor to Help Women Decide About Testing for Genetic Breast Cancer Risk, The Gist of Hot and Cold Cognition in Adolescents Risky Decision Making, Better Decisions, Better Care: Theories of Medical Decision Making and Health
OpenAlex ID: W1523207696