Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

An experiment aiming to assess the use of stopping rules in information acquisition was performed. An exploratoryexperimental paradigm was used. Participants (47 healthy individuals) were requested to make a decision in 24 financialscenarios with the possibility of buying information pieces. Participants were able to accept, reject or choose not todecide. Behavioral, EEG, ECG and Eyetracker data were recorded and integrated offline for analysis. Results showedthat participants followed primarily Bayesian calculations in order to determine when to cease information acquisition anddecide. Participants would tend to rely more on the valences (BAL) of the information acquired (positive or negative)than on sheer quantity. Acceptance tended to be made with mean positive BAL, rejection with mean negative BAL andprocrastination with mean zero BAL. Uncertainty was seen to affect the information acquisition and decision process;EEG data suggest Slow Cortical Potentials at fronto-central electrodes for risk with low consequences and uncertaintywith high consequences. Eyetracker data shows greater mean fixation time for decisions and information areas of interest(AOI). Heart rate data shows no difference in scenarios and/or information acquisition behavior, meaning that the decisionscenarios did not elicit significant emotional engagement. Integrated psychophysiological measures were of importantassistance to the conclusions given that they provided information as to what happened or not both behaviorally andphysiologically.