Garrett, Neil ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1440-472X and Sharot, Tali
(2023)
There is no belief update bias for neutral events: Failure to replicate Burton et al. (2022).
Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 35 (8).
pp. 876-886.
ISSN 2044-5911
Preview |
PDF (Garrett_Sharot_2023_JCognitivePsychology)
- Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
In a recent paper, Burton et al. claim that individuals update beliefs to a greater extent when learning an event is less likely compared to more likely than expected. Here, we investigate Burton’s et al.’s, findings. First, we show how Burton et al.’s data do not in fact support a belief update bias for neutral events. Next, in an attempt to replicate their findings, we collect a new data set employing the original belief update task design, but with neutral events. A belief update bias for neutral events is not observed. Finally, we highlight the statistical errors and confounds in Burton et al.’s design and analysis. This includes mis-specifying a reinforcement learning approach to model the data and failing to follow standard computational model fitting sanity checks such as parameter recovery, model comparison and out of sample prediction. Together, the results find little evidence for biased updating for neutral events.
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Additional Information: | Funding information: Neil Garrett is funded by a Sir Henry Wellcome Fellowship (209108/Z/17/Z). Tali Sharot is funded by a Wellcome Trust Senior Researcher Fellowship (214268/Z/18/Z). Rights retention statement: For the purpose of open access, the authors have applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission. |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | optimism,asymmetric learning,belief updating,experimental and cognitive psychology,arts and humanities (miscellaneous) ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3200/3205 |
Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology |
UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Social Cognition Research Group Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Cognition, Action and Perception |
Related URLs: | |
Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
Date Deposited: | 16 Aug 2023 09:30 |
Last Modified: | 01 Aug 2024 01:00 |
URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/92870 |
DOI: | 10.1080/20445911.2023.2245112 |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year
Actions (login required)
![]() |
View Item |