Manipulating the decision making process: Influencing a "gut" reaction

The present series of studies sought to examine how external factors influence behavioral decision making task performance. Utilizing the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) to assess risky decision making, we examined the influence of a dual task paradigm (Study 1, Study 2), shifting task focus to decision making speed versus accuracy (Study 3), and varied intertrial intervals (Study 4). College student participants completed the IGT and decision making speed and the patterns of IGT selections by deck in the earlier (decision making under ambiguity) and later (decision making under risk) trials were examined. Participants completing the IGT while simultaneously completing a dual working memory task made slower decisions and failed to learn, compared to the single task participants, that Deck C was an advantageous deck. Participants told to focus on being as accurate as possible in their decisions selected more from Deck C, whereas participants told to focus on making the quickest possible decision selected more from Deck D. Manipulating the intertrial interval, giving participants more time to learn from feedback, did not affect decision making speed or accuracy. Implications for our understanding of how individuals decide on the IGT and how heuristics may develop are presented.