Factors influencing judgments of causal relations

学习、理解和应用因果关系知识的能力是我们日常思考和决策的核心认知能力。 事实上，一个人对因果关系进行有效思考和推理的能力，是一个人在我们生活的这个充满活力和不断变化的世界中取得成功的基础。 本研究的主要目的是揭示因果思维中信念的（1）应用、（2）表征和（3）获得的认知机制。 具体而言，通过使用多种融合方法（例如，基本的行为和功能性脑成像），所提出的研究将提供重要的新见解如何明确（即，更有意识和控制）和隐含（即，更多的无意识和自动）认知过程共同促成了这三个相互关联的组成部分中的每一个的因果思维。 在学术层面上，这项研究的结果将有助于发展更有压缩性的因果思维理论，特别是人类的推理和决策。 重要的是，这项研究也有重大的真实的世界的影响。 具体来说，因果思维已被证明是一个关键因素，在广泛的学科，包括医学，法律和经济学有效的人类决策。 通过深入了解内隐和外显过程如何在判断因果关系时有助于信念的应用、表征和获得，我们将更有利地制定策略，限制先前信念对有效决策的影响。

The ability to learn, comprehend, and apply knowledge about causal relations is a core cognitive faculty underlying much of our daily thinking and decision-making. Indeed, one's ability to think and reason effectively about causal relations is fundamental to an individual's success in the dynamic and ever changing world in which we live. The primary objectives of the proposed research are to uncover the cognitive mechanisms underlying the (1) application, (2) representation, and (3) acquisition of beliefs in causal thinking. Specifically, through the use of multiple converging methodologies (e.g., basic behavioural and functional brain imaging), the proposed research will provide important new insights into how explicit (i.e., more conscious and controlled) and implicit (i.e., more unconscious and automatic) cognitive processes jointly contribute to causal thinking in each of these three interrelated components. At an academic level, the findings from this research will aid in the development of more compressive theories of causal thinking in particular, and human reasoning and decision-making in general. Importantly, this research also has significant real world implications. Specifically, causal thinking has been shown to be a key element underlying effective human decision-making in a wide range of disciplines, including Medicine, Law, and Economics. By gaining insights into how implicit and explicit processes contribute to the application, representation, and acquisition of beliefs when making judgments about causal relations, we will be more advantageously positioned to develop strategies that limit the impact of prior beliefs when they could be deleterious to effective decision-making.