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How We Know What Not To Think.

Jonathan Phillips1, Adam Morris2, Fiery Cushman2

  • 1Program in Cognitive Science, Dartmouth College, 201 Reed Hall, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.

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PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Humans prioritize considering possible actions that are both likely and valuable. This cognitive bias towards practical utility aids decision-making and complex reasoning.

Keywords:
actioncausal reasoningdecision makingmodal cognitionmodalitypossibilityprobabilityvalue

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Science
  • Decision Science
  • Psychology

Background:

  • Humans possess a remarkable ability to contemplate unrealized actions, crucial for complex cognitive functions.
  • The challenge lies in efficiently filtering infinite possibilities to focus on relevant actions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the cognitive mechanisms underlying the selection of possible actions.
  • To propose a unified theory explaining why certain actions are prioritized for consideration.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing research across cognitive sciences.
  • Theoretical synthesis to propose a unified model.

Main Results:

  • The default set of considered possible actions is biased towards those that are both likely to occur and generally valuable.
  • This bias towards general practical utility is observed across diverse cognitive tasks.

Conclusions:

  • A unified theory suggests that cognitive processes prioritize actions with general practical utility.
  • The primary function of this mechanism is likely decision-making, enabling efficient selection from infinite possibilities.