Instructional influence on learning and decision making with respect to cognitive functioning

Abstract

IntroductionHumans learn how to behave both through rules and instructions (explicit learning) as well as through environmental experiences (implicit learning). It has been shown that instructions can powerfully control people's choices, often leading to a confirmation bias.AimTo explore confirmation bias with respect to cognitive functioning in healthy adult participants.MethodsWe recruited 25 healthy adult control subjects (9 males, 16 females, age 31.40 ± 6.08 years). Participants completed Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychological Status (RBANSS) as well as Instructed Version of Probabilistic Selection Task (IPST) (Doll et al., 2009).ResultsBased on the performance on IPST into two groups: a group with higher and lower susceptibility to confirmation bias. We found no difference between these groups with respect to any of the cognitive domains measured with RBANSS (immediate memory, visuospatial abilities, language, attention and delayed memory) (U Mann-Whitney test, P > 0.05).ConclusionIn healthy adults, susceptibility to confirmation bias is independent of cognitive functioning (immediate and delayed memory, visuospatial abilities, language and attention).Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.