Authors: Takashi Tsuzuki, Yuji Takeda, and Itsuki Chiba

Title: Effortful processing reduces the attraction effect in multi-alternative decision making: An electrophysiological study using a task-irrelevant probe technique

Journal(書誌情報）: Frontiers in Psychology, 10:896

doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00896

論文URL: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00896/full

Abstract: The attraction effect in multi-alternative decision making reflects the context-dependent violation of axioms that are considered fundamental to rational choice. This effect is believed to depend on relatively effortless and intuitive processing (System 1) rather than on effortful and elaborative processing (System 2). To investigate the relationship between cognitive resources and the attraction effect in detail, we used a task-irrelevant probe technique, wherein task-irrelevant auditory probes were presented while participants viewed each alternative in a decision-making task, and measured the electroencephalographic responses to the probes. Thirty participants solved 48 hypothetical purchase problems with three alternatives that differed in terms of two attributes. We found that, in the second epoch of the experimental trials (possibly corresponding to the evaluation and comparison stage), the mean N1 amplitudes of the event-related potentials elicited by the auditory probes were significantly smaller when participants chose the competitor (i.e., trials in which no attraction effect occurred) than when participants chose the target (i.e., trials in which an attraction effect may have occurred). This result suggests that the allocation of more cognitive resources to the alternatives disrupts the attraction effect. This finding supports the assumption that intuitive comparisons among alternatives executed by System 1 are critical for the occurrence of the attraction effect.

著者Contact先の email: Correspondence: Takashi Tsuzuki: tsuzuki[at]rikkyo.ac.jp([at] を@に置き換えてください）

日本語によるコメント：本研究では合理的な選択公理に違反した文脈効果として，3肢選択意思決定における魅力効果に焦点を当てた。魅力効果とは，2属性において対照的なターゲットと, コンペティターの選択率が等しくなるように設定した上で，ターゲットよりもやや劣るデコイを追加することにより，ターゲットの選択率が上昇する現象である。本実験では，課題非関連聴覚プローブに対する事象関連電位を計測する方法を用い，視覚刺激が深く処理されると，魅力効果が生起しにくいことを見出した。この手法は，視覚刺激に多くの認知資源が配分されるほど，聴覚プローブへの注意配分が減少し，プローブに対するERP応答（N1成分の振幅）が小さくなる現象を利用している。

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