Expected value and response uncertainty in multiple-choice decision behavior.

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A 10-choice decision-making experiment was conducted in which the uncertainty, H, of S''s [subjects] response distributions was experimentally determined for each of 4 blocks of 80 trials. A measure of relative efficiency in terms of expected gain which assumes H constant, RT [reaction time], was computed for each S for each block of trials. Analysis indicated that RT did not depend on H and that it increased slightly but significantly with blocks. The absolute values of RT were quite close to the maximum in the later blocks, suggesting that when the uncertainty of the responses is accounted for, Ss perform the task in nearly optimal fashion. Some implications of these results for "rational" theories of decision making are discussed.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: