Learning From Our Mistakes: How and When Complex Decisions Fail

Grant number: DP160102360 | Funding period: 2016 - 2020

Completed

Abstract

The project aims to develop a novel mathematical framework, augmented by simulations and a set of experiments, to study when and how people commit errors. The modern environment bombards us with signals, such as radio and television advertisements as we sit at home or warning lights and car honks as we cross the road. Despite years of psychological research, it is not entirely clear how efficiently people cope with increasing amounts of information nor is it clear whether they process multiple signals simultaneously (in parallel) or one after the other (serial). The project offers new measures, based on the rate and pattern of error responses, to supplement the commonly used response times. ..

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Related publications (33)

Second-order facial features are processed analytically in composite faces

XJ Cheng, DR Little

2025-11-01

In contrast to claims of holistic processing, upright aligned composite face morphs were recently shown to be processed in the sam..

Unifying Approaches to Understanding Capacity in Change Detection

LC Fong, AG Blunden, PM Garrett, PL Smith, DR Little

2024-07-25

To navigate changes within a highly dynamic and complex environment, it is crucial to compare current visual representations of a ..

Visual Perception Principles in Constellation Creation

BA Kelly, C Kemp, DR Little, D Hamacher, SJ Cropper

2024-01-01

Many cultures share common constellations and common narratives about the stars in the night sky. Previous research has shown that..

Further tests of sequence-sensitive models in a modified garner task using separable dimensions

Deborah J Lin, Daniel R Little

2023-04-01

In the study of perceptual categorization, a key distinction is made between separable and integral dimensions. Separable dimensio..

Novelty Rejection in Episodic Memory

AF Osth, A Zhou, SD Lilburn, DR Little

2023-03-13

Episodic memory theories have postulated that in recognition, a probe is accepted or rejected on the basis of its global similarit..

Extending Systems Factorial Technology to Errored Responses

DR Little, H Yang, A Eidels, JT Townsend

2022-01-01

Systems factorial technology (SFT) is a theoretically derived methodology that allows for strong inferences to be made about under..

Characterizing the Time Course of Decision-Making in Change Detection

AG Blunden, DA Hammond, PDL Howe, DR Little

2021-07-22

We propose a novel modeling framework for characterizing the time course of change detection based on information held in visual s..

A show about nothing: No-signal processes in systems factorial technology.

ZL Howard, P Garrett, DR Little, JT Townsend, A Eidels

2021-01-01

Systems Factorial Technology (SFT) is a popular framework for that has been used to investigate processing capacity across many ps..

There’s a Time and a Face: The Time Course of Composite Face Processing

C Lynch, XJ Cheng, DR Little

2021-01-01

Faces are considered a special class of holistically-processed object. The composite face task is a widelyused tool to infer holis..

The Workload Capacity of Semantic Search in Convergent Thinking

L Shang, DR Little, ME Webb, A Eidels, CT Yang

2021-01-01

The present study used Systems Factorial Technology (Townsend & Nozawa, 1995) to investigate howpeople combine dual cues in semant..

Evidence that within-dimension features are generally processed coactively

AG Blunden, PDL Howe, DR Little

2020-01-01

In this paper, we examine whether information about an item’s category, provided by the same dimension type presented across multi..

Cultural Problems Cannot Be Solved with Technical Solutions Alone

SD Lilburn, DR Little, AF Osth, PL Smith

2019-12-01

A crisis in psychology has provoked researchers to seek remedies for bad practices that might damage the integrity of the discipli..

Comparative estimation systems perform under severely limited workload capacity

PM Garrett, Z Howard, JW Houpt, D Landy, A Eidels

2019-10-01

Like many species, humans can perform non-verbal estimates of quantity through our innate approximate number system. However, the ..

Systems Factorial Technology analysis of mixtures of processing architectures

DR Little, A Eidels, JW Houpt, PM Garrett, DW Griffiths

2019-10-01

Human information processing is flexible in its ability to utilize mechanisms such as attention and memory along with basic percep..

Cue-Driven Changes in Detection Strategies Reflect Trade-Offs in Strategic Efficiency

CT Yang, CH Wang, TY Chang, JC Yu, DR Little

2019-06-14

We examined performance in a cued detection task when a peripheral cue was either 50% or 100% valid, tested in separate experiment..

Once more with feeling: Normative data for the aha experience in insight and noninsight problems

ME Webb, DR Little, SJ Cropper

2018-10-01

Despite the presumed ability of insight problems to elicit the subjective feeling of insight, as well as the use of so-called insi..

Composite faces are not (necessarily) processed coactively: A test using systems factorial technology and logical-rule models

XJ Cheng, CJ McCarthy, TSL Wang, TJ Palmeri, DR Little

2018-06-01

Upright faces are thought to be processed more holistically than inverted faces. In the widely used composite face paradigm, holis..

Metastudies for robust tests of theory

B Baribault, C Donkin, DR Little, JS Trueblood, Z Oravecz, D Van Ravenzwaaij, CN White, P De Boeck, J Vandekerckhove

2018-03-13

We describe and demonstrate an empirical strategy useful for discovering and replicating empirical effects in psychological scienc..

How Do Information Processing Systems Deal with Conflicting Information? Differential Predictions for Serial, Parallel, and Coactive Models

DR Little, A Eidels, M Fifić, TSL Wang

2018-03-01

In this paper, we analyze how different information-processing architectures deal with conflicting information. A robust finding i..

An examination of parallel versus coactive processing accounts of redundant-target audiovisual signal processing

CT Yang, N Altieri, DR Little

2018-02-01

We ask whether auditory and visual signals are processed using a consistent mental architecture across variable experimental desig..

Statistical analyses of the resilience function

JW Houpt, DR Little

2017-08-01

The extent to which distracting information influences decisions can be informative about the nature of the underlying cognitive a..

Can Confusion-Data Inform SFT-Like Inference? A Comparison of SFT and Accuracy-Based Measures in Comparable Experiments

ZL Howard, A Eidels, NH Silbert, DR Little

2017-04-07

Systems Factorial Technology (SFT; Townsend & Nozawa, 1995) is a powerful framework that has allowed researchers to investigate th..

Categorization, Capacity, and Resilience

XJ Cheng, S Moneer, N Christie, DR Little

2017-04-07

In this chapter, we review recent work analyzing the workload capacity of information processing in the categorization of multidim..

Historical Foundations and a Tutorial Introduction to Systems Factorial Technology

N Altieri, M Fifić, DR Little, CT Yang

2017-04-07

In this chapter, we explore the foundations of a major analytical foundation of Systems Factorial Technology (SFT) - the Double Fa..

Logical-Rule Based Models of Categorization: Using Systems Factorial Technology to Understand Feature and Dimensional Processing

DW Griffiths, AG Blunden, DR Little

2017-04-07

This chapter will review the development of a parametric modeling framework and methodology based on the principles set forth by S..

Stretching Mental Processes: An Overview of and Guide for SFT Applications

M Fifić, DR Little

2017-04-07

Systems Factorial Technology (SFT) is an advanced non-parametric suite of tools used to analyze the structure of mental processes ..

Systems Factorial Technology: A Theory Driven Methodology for the Identification of Perceptual and Cognitive Mechanisms

DR Little, N Altieri, M Fifić, CT Yang

2017-04-07

Sequential Effects in the Garner Tasks

DJ Lin, DR Little

2017-01-01

The Role of Imagination in Exemplar Generation: The Effects of Conflict and Explanation

TM Dennis, DR Little

2017-01-01

Global cue inconsistency diminishes learning of cue validity

TSL Wang, N Christie, PDL Howe, DR Little

2016-11-11

In daily life, we make decisions that are associated with probabilistic outcomes (e.g., the chance of rain today). People search f..

The appropriacy of averaging in the study of context effects

SX Liew, PDL Howe, DR Little

2016-10-01

Models of human decision-making aim to simultaneously explain the similarity, attraction, and compromise effects. However, evidenc..

Sequence-sensitive exemplar and decision-bound accounts of speeded-classification performance in a modified Garner-tasks paradigm

DR Little, T Wang, RM Nosofsky

2016-09-01

Among the most fundamental results in the area of perceptual classification are the “correlated facilitation” and “filtering inter..

Selective attention modulates the effect of target location probability on redundant signal processing

TY Chang, DR Little, CT Yang

2016-08-01

We investigated the decision process underlying the detection of targets at multiple locations. In three experiments using the sam..

University of Melbourne Researchers

Daniel Little