Title:
Hypothesis-guided testing behavior: The role of generation, meta-cognition, and search

dc.contributor.advisor Thomas, Rick P.
dc.contributor.author Illingworth, David Anthony
dc.contributor.committeeMember Gorman, Jamie
dc.contributor.committeeMember Hertzog, Christopher
dc.contributor.committeeMember Rahnev, Dobromir
dc.contributor.committeeMember Feigh, Karen
dc.contributor.department Psychology
dc.date.accessioned 2020-05-20T16:59:52Z
dc.date.available 2020-05-20T16:59:52Z
dc.date.created 2020-05
dc.date.issued 2020-03-13
dc.date.submitted May 2020
dc.date.updated 2020-05-20T16:59:52Z
dc.description.abstract Hypothesis testing is the act of acquiring information to challenge or promote a decision-maker’s beliefs (i.e., hypotheses) in diagnostic tasks. To date, theorists have conceptualized this behavior as a consequence of implementing one of many possible heuristics for selecting tests, each tailored to optimize some task-relevant goal (e.g., reduce the likelihood of an erroneous diagnosis). Heuristics can account for a number of observed testing phenomena (e.g., pseudo-diagnostic search), but have difficulty explaining more nuanced testing behavior such as decisions to terminate data acquisition. Moreover, current theory has yet to address how updating a decision-maker’s beliefs influences test preference, as hypothesis testing is often studied independent of other events inherent to hypothesis evaluation. The current work examined the role of belief in testing and search termination by evaluating a novel extension of the HyGene architecture (Thomas, Dougherty, Sprenger & Harbison, 2008) built as a cognitive process account for hypothesis testing. Experiments 1 and 2 found limited support for hypothesis-driven valuation, as participants showed minimal signs of sensitivity to the diagnostic value of information depositories. Experiment 3 revealed a relation between belief and foraging duration such that less confidence early in a trial predicted more test exploitation. Model fitting indicated participants implemented a conservative threshold when determining the value of continued testing. Experiment 4 revealed cost-sensitivity in testing behavior, as well as an experience-driven contrast effect. Participants who experienced high costs early in the experiment generally engaged in less testing behavior than those who experienced low costs. The current work provides mild support for the predictions of the HyGene architecture, but clearly demonstrate a role for metacognitive self-assessment in decisions to terminate search and highlight the interaction of access costs with experience of costs when people perceive the value of engaging in testing behavior.
dc.description.degree Ph.D.
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1853/62763
dc.language.iso en_US
dc.publisher Georgia Institute of Technology
dc.subject Information foraging
dc.subject Decision-making
dc.title Hypothesis-guided testing behavior: The role of generation, meta-cognition, and search
dc.type Text
dc.type.genre Dissertation
dspace.entity.type Publication
local.contributor.advisor Thomas, Rick P.
local.contributor.corporatename College of Sciences
local.contributor.corporatename School of Psychology
relation.isAdvisorOfPublication 44e4bb42-7dc6-4dd1-80a5-2532238057b1
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 85042be6-2d68-4e07-b384-e1f908fae48a
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 768a3cd1-8d73-4d47-b418-0fc859ce897d
thesis.degree.level Doctoral
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