How Decision-Making Improves with Age

Summary: Adolescents are known for making less optimal, noisy decisions, but a recent study reveals that these tendencies decrease with age and are linked to improvements in complex decision-making skills.…

Brain Struggle with Conflicting Information in Schizophrenia

Summary: Researchers have developed a potential diagnostic tool for schizophrenia by observing how patients process conflicting information. By analyzing neural activity between the cortex and thalamus, they found distinct patterns…

How Social Learning Guides Decisions When Preferences Differ

Summary: A new study shows that humans use social information to guide their decisions, even when others’ preferences differ from their own. Researchers found that people treat social cues as…

Unexpected Sounds Boost Dopamine, Leading to Riskier Decisions

Summary: A new study shows that unexpected sounds can cause dopamine bursts in the brain, which may lead to riskier decision-making. Researchers found that participants were 4% more likely to…

“Sleeping on It” Helps With Rational Decision Making

Summary: A new study reveals that while snap judgments heavily influence decisions made immediately, “sleeping on it” helps people make more rational choices. Researchers found that participants who made instant…

Biden and Trump may forget names or personal details, but here is what really matters in assessing whether they’re cognitively up for the job

Some Americans are questioning whether elderly people like Joe Biden and Donald Trump are cognitively competent to be president amid reports of the candidates mixing up names while speaking and…

Psychology of Stock Choices: High Risk or Steady Gains?

Summary: Researchers conducted a study exploring why investors are drawn to high-risk IPO shares despite their generally low returns, comparing this allure to the steady yet modest returns of investments…

Emotion vs. Reason: Rethinking Decision-Making

Summary: Researchers challenge the notion that rational thinking is the only path to good decision-making. Highlighting the limited role of rationality in our choices, the researchers emphasize the profound influence…

Fear Distorts Reward Decisions Differently for Women and Men

Summary: Fear can significantly influence women’s preference for immediate financial rewards over larger, delayed ones, a decision-making bias known as “delay discounting,” while men’s choices remain unaffected by their emotional…

Attitude Bias at Procrastination’s Root

Summary: New research delves into how valence weighting bias—people’s tendency to prioritize negative or positive attitudes—plays a crucial role in procrastination. By studying individuals’ responses to tasks like tax filing…