Sensory substitution can improve decision-making

Abstract

New technologies are often considered direct competitors to humans in the realm of decision-making. This paper explores a novel approach to augmenting human decision-making through technology. Specifically, drawing on the brain's unique ability to learn from sensory experiences, we introduce sensory substitution, the encoding of information in an alternative sensory modality, as a method to improve decision-making. In a within-subject design (N = 48), we show that translating numerical information into sensory experiences (i.e., tactile stimulation administered to a person's body) results in higher decision accuracy in a multiple-cue learning task. Response time analyses, participants' self-reports, and cognitive modeling all suggest that the benefits afforded by sensory substitution are the result of a shift from explicit rule abstraction to configural learning. That is, rather than deliberately inferring decision rules, participants develop intuitive, perceptual strategies to accurately predict outcomes. Together, our findings suggest that sensory substitution could enhance decision-making by training “gut instincts” rather than deliberate decision-making skills.