title: Concurrent explanations can enhance visual decision making.
abstract: The verbalization of one's thoughts has been shown to impair judgment and decision making in some cases, particularly when targets are perceptual. This finding has been attributed to the fact that non-verbal processes are sometimes difficult to verbalize, which may cause a shift in processing that is maladaptive to the task. The study shows that concurrent written explanations can also enhance judgment and decision making in certain visual choice tasks. This finding suggests that the effect of verbalization on perceptual tasks is not dependent on whether the targets of the judgment are verbal or perceptual but rather on whether there is adequate vocabulary to execute the task and whether the task benefits from a more analytic approach.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioral Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 9, Siltavuorenpenger 1 A, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: tuomas.leisti@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Tuomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Leisti
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioral Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 9, Siltavuorenpenger 1 A, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: jenni.radun@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Jenni
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Radun
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioral Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 9, Siltavuorenpenger 1 A, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: toni.virtanen@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Toni
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Virtanen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioral Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 9, Siltavuorenpenger 1 A, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: gote.nyman@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Göte
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nyman
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioral Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 9, Siltavuorenpenger 1 A, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: jukka.hakkinen@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Jukka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Häkkinen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D014825:Vocabulary; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: 2300; 2323; 2340; Consciousness; Decision making; Dual process models; Introspection; Judgment; Visual perception