Decision Neuroscience: New Directions in Studies of Judgment and Decision Making

ABSTRACT— Investigations of decision making have historically been undertaken by different disciplines, each using different techniques and assumptions, and few unifying efforts have been made. Economists have focused on precise mathematical models of normative decision making, psychologists have examined how decisions are actually made based on cognitive constraints, and neuroscientists have concentrated on the detailed operation of neural systems in simple choices. In recent years, however, researchers in these separate fields have joined forces in an attempt to better specify the foundations of decision making. This interdisciplinary effort has begun to use decision theory to guide the search for the neural bases of reward value and predictability. Concurrently, these formal models are beginning to incorporate processes such as social reward and emotion. The combination of these diverse theoretical approaches and methodologies is already yielding significant progress in the construction of more comprehensive decision-making models.     

Metacomprehension: A Brief History and How to Improve Its Accuracy

ABSTRACT— People's judgments about how well they have learned and comprehended text materials can be important for effectively regulating learning, but only if those judgments are accurate. Over two decades of research examining judgments of text learning—or metacomprehension —has consistently demonstrated that people's judgment accuracy is quite poor. We review recent research that has shown some success in improving judgment accuracy and then argue that the most common method used to investigate metacomprehension accuracy may inadvertently constrain it. We describe a new method that sidesteps some problems of the older method and present evidence showing how people can achieve high levels of metacomprehension accuracy.     

部件、结构和名称对图形相似性判断的影响

以不同基本形状构成的几何图形为材料,研究了图形的部件形状、整体结构和名称对相似判断的影响。结论为:1)部件形状、整体结构和名称对相似判断估计值均有非常显著影响,且部件形状和整体结构的交互作用也非常显著;2)部件形状、整体结构和名称对相似判断反应时没有显著的影响,但部件形状和整体结构、整体结构和名称两组交互作用均非常显著;3)部件形状和整体结构相同对相似判断估计值的影响更大;名称和部件形状、名称和整体结构相同的条件居次;只有一个因素相同时,部件形状相同影响最大,其次是整体结构和名称。     

Morphological Rationalism and the Psychology of Moral Judgment

According to rationalism regarding the psychology of moral judgment, people’s moral judgments are generally the result of a process of reasoning that relies on moral principles or rules. By contrast, intuitionist models of moral judgment hold that people generally come to have moral judgments about particular cases on the basis of gut-level, emotion-driven intuition, and do so without reliance on reasoning and hence without reliance on moral principles. In recent years the intuitionist model has been forcefully defended by Jonathan Haidt. One important implication of Haidt’s model is that in giving reasons for their moral judgments people tend to confabulate – the reasons they give in attempting to explain their moral judgments are not really operative in producing those judgments. Moral reason-giving on Haidt’s view is generally a matter of post hoc confabulation. Against Haidt, we argue for a version of rationalism that we call ‘morphological rationalism.’ We label our version ‘morphological’ because according to it, the information contained in moral principles is embodied in the standing structure of a typical individual’s cognitive system, and this morphologically embodied information plays a causal role in the generation of particular moral judgments. The manner in which the principles play this role is via ‘proceduralization’ – such principles operate automatically. In contrast to Haidt’s intuitionism, then, our view does not imply that people’s moral reason-giving practices are matters of confabulation. In defense of our view, we appeal to what we call the ‘nonjarring’ character of the phenomenology of making moral judgments and of giving reasons for those judgments.

The limits of objective assessment of medical practice

Medical work is increasingly being subjected to objective assessment as those who pay for it seek to grasp the quality of that work and how best to improve it. While objective measures have a role in the assessment of health care, I argue that this role is currently overestimated and that no human practice such as medicine can be fully comprehended by objective assessment. I suggest that the character of practices, in which formalizations are combined with judgment, requires that valid assessment involve the perspective of the skilled practitioner. Relying exclusively on objective measures in assessing health care will not only distort our assessments of it but lead to damage as the incentives of health care workers are directed away from the important aspects of their work that are not captured by objective measures.

道德判断的社会直觉模型述评

传统的理性主义模型认为,道德判断是一系列理性推理的结果;而当前的社会直觉模型认为,道德判断包括直觉系统和推理系统两种加工,很多时候人们的道德判断更多的是一种直觉和情感的结果。近期神经心理学研究的一些成果证实了社会直觉模型的理念。     

刺激呈现时间对责任推论影响的实验研究

在社会认知中,由于所呈现的刺激都具有复杂的社会意义,其必然会在被试的心理上引起复杂的反应。实验通过对刺激时间的控制来了解个体在知觉阶段与记忆阶段所进行的责任推论是否存在差异。结果表明,工读生在刺激快速呈现时的责任判断与刺激缓慢呈现时的责任推论存在显著差异。     

Calibration of Subjective Probability Judgments in a Naturalistic Setting

Results of previous calibration studies are used to identify features of the decision maker and the decision environment which might be expected to result in good calibration. Racetrack bettors and, in particular, the UK parimutuel betting market are identified as possessing such characteristics. In order to explore calibration in this setting, an analysis is undertaken of bets placed on 19,396 horses. A close correlation is observed between the subjective probability judgments of horses' success, implicit in the bettors' wagering activities, and the objective probability of success of the horses concerned. Explanations for the results are offered in terms of characteristics of racetrack bettors and the naturalistic setting, with particular reference to the operation of the betting market. The results contribute to an emergent school of thought which advocates naturalistic enquiry as a complement to laboratory-based experiments in further developing the understanding of decision making.     

人类的判断为什么不精确：进化论和脑科学的解释

人类的判断并非十分精确,而且人类还无法清醒认识到自己判断并不准。进化心理学理论认为看似不精确的判断最小化了人类付出的生存代价,从而使个体具有更大的收益,在竞争资源中具有适应优势;而脑科学领域运用fMRI、TMS等技术发现了前额叶的某些区域与判断的精确性有关。未来的研究有待结合进化发展心理学的角度、进化适应的现实解释性角度和认知神经科学发现临床应用的角度展开。