Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Missionsstrasse 62a, 4055, Basel, Switzerland.
Sci Rep. 2018 Jul 12;8(1):10592. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-28728-9.
For many value-based decisions, people need to retrieve relevant information from their memory. In our previous work, we have shown that memory biases decisions in the sense that better-memorized choice options are preferred, even if these options are comparatively unattractive. However, the cognitive mechanisms that drive this memory bias remain unclear. In the current pre-registered study, we tested the hypothesis that the memory bias arises because people believe they remember better options more often than worse options. Specifically, we predicted a positive correlation between the memory bias on value-based decisions and the belief in value-dependent memory performance. This prediction was confirmed. Additional exploratory analyses revealed that memory performance was indeed higher for more attractive options, indicating that letting decisions be influenced by memory can be an adaptive strategy. However, the memory bias persisted after correcting for this effect, suggesting that it is not simply an artifact of unequal memory performance. Our results highlight a critical influence of beliefs on behavior and add to an emerging understanding of the role of memory in shaping value-based decisions.
对于许多基于价值的决策，人们需要从记忆中检索相关信息。在我们之前的工作中，我们已经表明，记忆偏差会影响决策，即人们更倾向于记忆更好的选择选项，即使这些选项相对没有吸引力。然而，驱动这种记忆偏差的认知机制尚不清楚。在当前的预先注册研究中，我们检验了这样一个假设，即记忆偏差是因为人们认为他们更频繁地记住更好的选项而不是更差的选项。具体来说，我们预测基于价值的决策中的记忆偏差与对价值相关记忆表现的信念之间存在正相关。这一预测得到了证实。额外的探索性分析表明，对于更有吸引力的选项，记忆表现确实更高，这表明让决策受到记忆的影响可能是一种适应性策略。然而，在纠正了这种影响后，记忆偏差仍然存在，这表明它不仅仅是记忆表现不均等的一个artifact。我们的研究结果强调了信念对行为的重要影响，并为记忆在塑造基于价值的决策中的作用提供了一个新的认识。
