Exact and approximate calculation and uncertain decision-making in children and adults: Evidence from fuzzy trace theory

Abstract

The present study aimed to explore the role of exact and approximate calculation in predicting uncertain decision-making in children and emerging adults and the influence of intelligence on their uncertain decision-making was simultaneously considered. In the first study, forty emerging adults and fifty-four typically developing (TD) children completed the uncertain decision-making task—Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), exact calculation task, and approximate calculation task. In the second study, we further included data from forty-six intellectually gifted children with the same age as the TD children to investigate the relationship between calculation and uncertain decision-making performance. The results showed that emerging adults' and intellectually gifted children's IGT performance was superior to TD children. Exact and approximate calculation played different roles in predicting IGT performance in emerging adults and TD children: after controlling their intelligence scores, TD children's exact calculation negatively predicted their uncertain decision-making, whereas emerging adults' approximate calculation positively predicted their uncertain decision-making. Furthermore, intellectually gifted children's approximate calculation was positively associated with their uncertain decision-making, which is similar to emerging adults. This study verified and expanded fuzzy trace theory, and it shed light on developing and improving approximate calculation ability, which is beneficial to the increased ability of uncertain decision-making.