Working memory and spatial judgments: Cognitive load increases the central tendency bias

Allred, Sarah R. and Crawford, L. Elizabeth and Duffy, Sean and Smith, John (2015): Working memory and spatial judgments: Cognitive load increases the central tendency bias.

Abstract

Previous work demonstrates that memory for simple stimuli can be biased by information about the category of which the stimulus is a member. Specifically, stimuli with values greater than the category’s average tend to be underestimated and stimuli with values less than the average are overestimated. This is referred to as the central tendency bias. This bias has been explained as an optimal use of both noisy sensory information and category information. In a largely separate literature, cognitive load experiments attempt to manipulate the available working memory of participants in order to observe its effect on choice or judgments. In three experiments, we demonstrate that participants under a high cognitive load exhibit a stronger central tendency bias than when under a low cognitive load. Although not anticipated at the outset, we also find that judgments exhibit an anchoring bias.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: judgment; memory; anchoring; working memory; cognitive constraints; cognitive busyness
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C8 - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology ; Computer Programs; Z - Other Special Topics > Z0 - General

References

Akaike, H. (1974). A new look at the statistical model identification, IEEE Trans. Automatic Control 19, 716-723.

Allen, R. J., Baddeley, A. D., & Hitch, G. J. (2006). Is the binding of visual features in working memory resource-demanding? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 135(2), 298-313.

Allred, S., Duffy, S., & Smith, J. (2015). Cognitive load and strategic sophistication.

Ashourian, P., & Loewenstein, Y. (2011). Bayesian inference underlies the contraction bias in delayed comparison tasks. PloS One, 6(5), e19551.

Bergman, O., Ellingsen, T., Johannesson, M., & Svensson, C. (2010). Anchoring and cognitive ability. Economics Letters, 107, 66–68.

Block, R. A., Hancock, P. A., & Zakay, D. (2010). How cognitive load affects duration judgments: A meta-analytic review. Acta psychologica, 134(3), 330-343.

Cocchi, L., Toepel, U., De Lucia, M., Martuzzi, R., Wood, S. J., Carter, O., & Murray, M. M. (2011). Working memory load improves early stages of independent visual processing. Neuropsychologia, 49(1), 92-102.

Cornelissen, G., Dewitte, S., & Warlop, L. (2011). Are social value orientations expressed automatically? Decision making in the dictator game. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 1080-1090.

Crawford, L. E., Huttenlocher, J., & Engebretson, P. H. (2000). Category effects on estimates of stimuli: Perception or reconstruction. Psychological Science, 11(4), 280-284.

Crawford, L. E., Huttenlocher, J., & Hedges, L. V. (2006). Within-category feature correlations and Bayesian adjustment strategies. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13(2), 245-250.

Crawford, L. E., Landy, D. H., & Salthouse, T. A. (2015). Individual differences in spatial memory bias. Unpublished manuscript.

Duffy, S., & Crawford, L.E. (2008). Primacy or recency effects in the formation of inductive categories. Memory & Cognition, 36, 567-577.

Duffy, S., Huttenlocher, J., & Crawford, L. E. (2006). Children use categories to maximize accuracy in estimation. Developmental Science, 9(6), 597-603.

Duffy, S., Huttenlocher, J., Hedges, L. V., & Crawford, L. E. (2010). Category effects on stimulus estimation: Shifting and skewed frequency distributions. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 17, 224-230.

Duffy, S. & Smith, J. (2014). Are there brains in games? Cognitive load in the multiple player prisoner’s dilemma game. Journal of Behavioral & Experimental Economics, 51, 47-56.

Epley, N., & Gilovich, T. (2006). The anchoring-and-adjustment heuristic: Why the adjustments are insufficient. Psychological Science, 17(4), 311-318.

Fitting, S., Wedell, D. H., & Allen, G. L. (2007). Memory for spatial location: Cue effects as a function of field rotation. Memory & Cognition, 35(7), 1641-1658.

Fitting, S., Wedell, D. H., & Allen, G. L. (2008). Cue usage in memory for location when orientation is fixed. Memory & Cognition, 36(6), 1196-1216.

Furnham, A., & Boo, H. C. (2011). A literature review of the anchoring effect. Journal of Socio-Economics, 40(1), 35-42.

Gilbert, D. T., Pelham, B. W., & Krull, D. S. (1988). On cognitive busyness: When person perceivers meet persons perceived. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 54, 733-740.

Goldstone, R. (1994). Influences of categorization on perceptual discrimination. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 23, 178-200.

Haun, D. B., Allen, G. L., & Wedell, D. H. (2005). Bias in spatial memory: A categorical endorsement. Acta Psychologica, 118(1), 149-170.

Hemmer, P., & Steyvers, M. (2009a). A Bayesian account of reconstructive memory. Topics in Cognitive Science, 1(1), 189-202.

Hemmer, P., & Steyvers, M. (2009b). Integrating episodic memories and prior knowledge at multiple levels of abstraction. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16(1), 80-87.

Hinson, J. M., Jameson, T. L., & Whitney, P. (2003). Impulsive decision making and working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 29, 298-306.

Huttenlocher, J., Hedges, L. V., & Duncan, S. (1991). Categories and particulars: prototype effects in estimating spatial location. Psychological Review, 98(3), 352.

Huttenlocher, J., Hedges, L. V., & Vevea, J. L. (2000). Why do categories affect stimulus judgment? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 129, 220-241.

Jazayeri, M., & Shadlen, M. N. (2010). Temporal context calibrates interval timing. Nature Neuroscience, 13(8), 1020-1026.

LeBoeuf, R. A., & Shafir, E. (2006). The long and short of it: Physical anchoring effects. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 19(4), 393-406.

Mann, T., & Ward, A. (2007). Attention, self-control, and health behaviors. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 280-283.

Martin, L. L., Seta, J. J., & Crelia, R. A. (1990). Assimilation and contrast as a function of people's willingness and ability to expend effort in forming an impression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(1), 27-37.

Morey, C. C., & Bieler, M. (2013). Visual short-term memory always requires general attention. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 20(1), 163-170.

Morey, C. C., & Cowan, N. (2004). When visual and verbal memories compete: Evidence of cross-domain limits in working memory. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 11(2), 296-301.

Oechssler, J., Roider, A. & Schmitz, P. W. (2009) Cognitive abilities and behavioral biases. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 72(1), 147–152.

Olkkonen, M., & Allred, S. R. (2014). Short-Term Memory Affects Color Perception in Context. PLoS ONE, 9(1), e86488.

Olkkonen, M. McCarthy, P. F, & Allred, S.R (2014). The central tendency bias in color perception: effects of internal and external noise. Journal of Vision, 14(11), 5.

Poulton, E. C. (1989). Bias in quantifying judgements. Taylor & Francis.

Sailor, K. M., & Antoine, M. (2005). Is memory for stimulus magnitude Bayesian? Memory & Cognition, 33(5), 840-851.

Shiv, B. & Fedorikhin, A. (1999). Heart and mind in conflict: The interplay of affect and cognition in consumer decision making. Journal of Consumer Research, 26, 278-292.

Swann, W. B., Hixon, G., Stein-Seroussi, A., & Gilbert, D. T. (1990). The fleeting gleam of praise: Cognitive processes underlying behavioral reactions to self-relevant feedback. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 59, 17-26.

Van den Bos, K., Peters, S. L., Bobocel, D. R., & Ybema, J. F. (2006) On preferences and doing the right thing: Satisfaction with advantageous inequity when cognitive processing is limited. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 273-289.

Ward, A., & Mann, T. (2000). Don't mind if I do: disinhibited eating under cognitive load. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(4), 753-763.

Wigboldus, D. H., Sherman, J. W., Franzese, H. L., & Knippenberg, A. V. (2004). Capacity and comprehension: Spontaneous stereotyping under cognitive load. Social Cognition, 22(3), 292-309.

Xu, J., & Griffiths, T. L. (2010). A rational analysis of the effects of memory biases on serial reproduction. Cognitive psychology, 60(2), 107-126.

Zokaei, N., Heider, M., & Husain, M. (2014). Attention is required for maintenance of feature binding in visual working memory. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 67(6), 1191-1213.