Adapting to an Uncertain World: Cognitive Capacity and Causal Reasoning with Ambiguous Observations.

ABSTRACT: Ambiguous causal evidence in which the covariance of the cause and effect is partially known is pervasive in real life situations. Little is known about how people reason about causal associations with ambiguous information and the underlying cognitive mechanisms. This paper presents three experiments exploring the cognitive mechanisms of causal reasoning with ambiguous observations. Results revealed that the influence of ambiguous observations manifested by missing information on causal reasoning depended on the availability of cognitive resources, suggesting that processing ambiguous information may involve deliberative cognitive processes. Experiment 1 demonstrated that subjects did not ignore the ambiguous observations in causal reasoning. They also had a general tendency to treat the

SUBMITTER: Shou Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4607167 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature