Navigating decision space: Causal structure improves performance in a branching choice task.

ABSTRACT: Previous research has shown that the causal structure of events influences how well they are recalled in episodic memory later on. Here, we aimed to investigate whether these effects apply not only to events that are passively observed but also situations directly shaped by an individual's decisions. We designed a task in which participants had to traverse decision trees of varying causal structure: 'Coherent' trees where each decision followed from the consequences of the preceding decision, and 'fragmented' trees where each subsequent decision was only statistically (but not causally) contingent on the preceding decision. In a between-subjects experiment, participants first completed an exploration phase in which they had to explore the decision trees without a specific goal; in a subseq

SUBMITTER: Arslan A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12668605 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature