Are All Relational Judgments the Same? An Investigation of Two Decision Models Using Event-Related-Potentials
Item
-
Title
-
Are All Relational Judgments the Same? An Investigation of Two Decision Models Using Event-Related-Potentials
-
Identifier
-
d_2009_2013:500b6bdcaa9b:11987
-
identifier
-
12669
-
Creator
-
Henkell, Heather M.,
-
Contributor
-
Ray Johnson Jr
-
Date
-
2013
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Psychology | Neurosciences | Behavioral psychology | accumulator model | decision making | event-related potentials | iterative reprocessing | relational judgments
-
Abstract
-
Two neurocognitive models of decision-making, Iterative Reprocessing (IR) and Accumulator models have been proposed to explain subjective conceptual and objective perceptual judgments, respectively. To date, there is little evidence from humans in support of the central tenet of both models that there is a direct relation between duration of evaluative processing and judgment difficulty. Further, it is not known if a single model can explain all types of judgments. To compare the timing and location of neural activations underlying decision-making, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants completed judgments in a 2-by-2 factorial design with factors of Judgment Type (Objective, Subjective) and Domain (Semantic, Perceptual). To assess the effect of difficulty on evaluative processing, difficulty was manipulated for Objective judgments. Confirming the finding of Johnson and colleagues (2011) both Early and Late LPCs were elicited by all judgments creating an evaluative processing interval. The duration of ERPs reflecting evaluative processing (i.e., accumulation, working memory, selection, monitoring) increased as a function of judgment difficulty for Objective Semantic and Perceptual judgments, providing some of the first direct evidence that duration of this processing is related to difficulty. A comparison of the judgments examined here revealed two networks underlying decision-making; however, these networks did not divide based on judgment type or domain. Instead, judgments differed on whether the details on which the decision was based were analyzed based on global or local properties. The division between networks involve whether judgments can be decided by fitting things together into a whole (e.g., global) (Objective Perceptual, Subjective Perceptual, Subjective Semantic) or can be decided based on only a few details (e.g., local) (Objective Semantic). Processing in the local network is consistent with the IR model, while the global network is consistent with Accumulator models. Results indicate the IR model does not account for explicit subjective conceptual judgments, but can account for Objective Semantic judgments. Further, the study validates that Accumulator models' account for Objective Perceptual judgments and expands this model to both Subjective Perceptual and Semantic judgments, suggesting that these models may provide accurate accounts of most types of decisions that humans make every day.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
2009_2013.csv
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
-
Program
-
Psychology
