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Updated: Jun 11, 2026
10:58
Multimedia Battery for Assessment of Cognitive and Basic Skills in Mathematics (BM-PROMA)
Published on: August 28, 2021
[Rounding off positions used in number comparisons].
1Faculty of Education, Shinshu University, Nishinagano, Nagano 380-8544, Japan. hshimada@shinshu-u.ac.jp
Summary
People often round numbers when choosing between payments. This study found that number rounding, particularly the first two digits, significantly impacts decisions involving delayed or immediate financial choices.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Decision Science
Context:
- Everyday number rounding behavior.
- Decision-making under financial trade-offs involving time delays.
Purpose:
- To investigate how individuals round multidigit numbers when faced with choices between higher payments with longer delays and lower payments with shorter delays.
- To examine the influence of digit order on rounding decisions in a financial context.
Summary:
- Participants chose between payment options presented as 4-digit yen amounts.
- The study manipulated the ordinal sequence of digits in the second, third, and fourth places to create compatible and incompatible conditions.
- Rounding to higher payments was more frequent in compatible conditions, especially when the second digit's ordinal direction aligned with the first.
Impact:
- Findings suggest that people primarily compare the first two digits when rounding numbers in financial decisions.
- This highlights the significant role of initial digits in cognitive processing of numerical information, influencing choice behavior.
- The study provides insights into heuristics used in numerical decision-making, particularly concerning time-value trade-offs.
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