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Option generation in decision making: ideation beyond memory retrieval

According to prescriptive decision theories, the generation of options for choice is a central aspect of decision making. A too narrow representation of the problem may indeed limit the opportunity to evaluate promising options. However, despite the theoretical and applied significance of this topic...

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Autores principales: Del Missier, Fabio, Visentini, Mimì, Mäntylä, Timo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4302792/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25657628
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01584
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author Del Missier, Fabio
Visentini, Mimì
Mäntylä, Timo
author_facet Del Missier, Fabio
Visentini, Mimì
Mäntylä, Timo
author_sort Del Missier, Fabio
collection PubMed
description According to prescriptive decision theories, the generation of options for choice is a central aspect of decision making. A too narrow representation of the problem may indeed limit the opportunity to evaluate promising options. However, despite the theoretical and applied significance of this topic, the cognitive processes underlying option generation are still unclear. In particular, while a cued recall account of option generation emphasizes the role of memory and executive control, other theoretical proposals stress the importance of ideation processes based on various search and thinking processes. Unfortunately, relevant behavioral evidence on the cognitive processes underlying option generation is scattered and inconclusive. In order to reach a better understanding, we carried out an individual-differences study employing a wide array of cognitive predictors, including measures of episodic memory, semantic memory, cognitive control, and ideation fluency. The criterion tasks consisted of three different poorly-structured decision-making scenarios, and the participants were asked to generate options to solve these problems. The main criterion variable of the study was the number of valid options generated, but also the diversity and the quality of generated options were examined. The results showed that option generation fluency and diversity in the context of ill-structured decision making are supported by ideation ability even after taking into account the effects of individual differences in several other aspects of cognitive functioning. Thus, ideation processes, possibly supported by search and thinking processes, seem to contribute to option generation beyond basic associative memory retrieval. The findings of the study also indicate that generating more options may have multifaceted consequences for choice, increasing the quality of the best option generated but decreasing the mean quality of the options in the generated set.
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spelling pubmed-43027922015-02-05 Option generation in decision making: ideation beyond memory retrieval Del Missier, Fabio Visentini, Mimì Mäntylä, Timo Front Psychol Psychology According to prescriptive decision theories, the generation of options for choice is a central aspect of decision making. A too narrow representation of the problem may indeed limit the opportunity to evaluate promising options. However, despite the theoretical and applied significance of this topic, the cognitive processes underlying option generation are still unclear. In particular, while a cued recall account of option generation emphasizes the role of memory and executive control, other theoretical proposals stress the importance of ideation processes based on various search and thinking processes. Unfortunately, relevant behavioral evidence on the cognitive processes underlying option generation is scattered and inconclusive. In order to reach a better understanding, we carried out an individual-differences study employing a wide array of cognitive predictors, including measures of episodic memory, semantic memory, cognitive control, and ideation fluency. The criterion tasks consisted of three different poorly-structured decision-making scenarios, and the participants were asked to generate options to solve these problems. The main criterion variable of the study was the number of valid options generated, but also the diversity and the quality of generated options were examined. The results showed that option generation fluency and diversity in the context of ill-structured decision making are supported by ideation ability even after taking into account the effects of individual differences in several other aspects of cognitive functioning. Thus, ideation processes, possibly supported by search and thinking processes, seem to contribute to option generation beyond basic associative memory retrieval. The findings of the study also indicate that generating more options may have multifaceted consequences for choice, increasing the quality of the best option generated but decreasing the mean quality of the options in the generated set. Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-01-22 /pmc/articles/PMC4302792/ /pubmed/25657628 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01584 Text en Copyright © 2015 Del Missier, Visentini and Mäntylä. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Del Missier, Fabio
Visentini, Mimì
Mäntylä, Timo
Option generation in decision making: ideation beyond memory retrieval
title Option generation in decision making: ideation beyond memory retrieval
title_full Option generation in decision making: ideation beyond memory retrieval
title_fullStr Option generation in decision making: ideation beyond memory retrieval
title_full_unstemmed Option generation in decision making: ideation beyond memory retrieval
title_short Option generation in decision making: ideation beyond memory retrieval
title_sort option generation in decision making: ideation beyond memory retrieval
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4302792/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25657628
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01584
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