Autore
Migheli, Matteo

Titolo
Reaction Times in a Field Experiment: Is Really All about Instinctiveness.
Periodico
Università degli studi di Torino. Dip. Di Economia e Statistica Cognetti de Martiis. Working paper series
Anno: 2014 - Volume: 9 - Fascicolo: 24 - Pagina iniziale: 1 - Pagina finale: 20

Several papers in experimental economics use reaction times (RTs) to assess whether a decision is instinctive or not. This paper analyses a field experiment (the behaviour of athletes at the World Swimming Championships) in three steps, where only the (expected) payoff changes (i.e. increases) from one step to the next. The payoff depends on the time of the race, of which the RT is part. Considering, for each competition, a homogeneous sample of swimmers, the paper shows that RTs decrease as the expected payoff increase. The observed reductions are comparable in magnitude to those observed in other experiments, where conscious/cognitive process are induced (or, at least, present). The paper concludes claiming that a share of the observed RTs is determined through a cognitive process, and therefore RTs are not pure measures of instinctiveness.



Testo completo: http://www.est.unito.it/do/home.pl/Download?doc=/allegati/wp2014dip/wp_24_2014.pdf

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