Abstract
An individual in modern society is faced with a variety of situations that require him to make decisions within a time constraint. The decisions vary with urgency, importance and complexity. Some decisions are critical and urgent while some are not. It becomes important to avail information that will make it easy for the individual to make his choices wisely (Sweller et al 1998 pp. 251-296). In the first experiment detailed herein, 121 participants were asked to memorize a one-digit or a seven-digit number as a measure of their cognitive load and in the second experiment, the participants were asked to decide which prize they would like to win in a draw from a set of three prizes or ten prizes within different amounts of time.
Discussion
The experiment conducted was consistent with the cognitive overload hypothesis which postulates that the difficulty that an individual faces when making decisions is not based on the complexity of the decision at hand but rather on the cognitive load of the decision involved. Adjusting the time period in which the individual is to make the decision is a way of determining the relationship between the number of options and the cognitive load but does not affect the level of cognitive load. This hypothesis is expressed in the first part of the experiment where the participants were asked to memorize a seven-digit number and a ten-digit number.
It was established that those who were asked to memorize the seven-digit number scored higher than those who were asked to memorize the ten-digit number. Those who memorized the ten-digit number had a higher cognitive load compared to those who memorized the seven-digit number. The number of information units that can be stored in the short-term memory is a vital feature of the cognitive load.
In the second part of our experiment, we find adequate evidence to support a number of our hypotheses as well as reject some. The participants who had a high cognitive load faced more task difficulty as compared to those who had a lesser cognitive load. Even when the participants with a high cognitive load were provided with a longer time in which to make their decision, they were still faced with difficulty in decision making.
Regardless of the choice set size, the participants with a high cognitive load were not satisfied with their final choice and regretted their decision, this finding was independent of the time allocated to the experiment and is consistent with that of Haynes who found no interaction between the decision time and the cognitive load on the post choice satisfaction or regret thereby rejecting H1and H2.
The participants with a high cognitive load were not satisfied with the choice they made regardless of the amount of time allocated to their experiment because when an individual is faced with a complex problem, he employs heuristics in simplifying the decision making process this observation does not support the finding by Hendrick and Kiester that having a limited time in which to make the decision would frustrate an individual because the person does not have adequate time to process the information he has received and compare the options in order to come up with the most viable option. (Hendrick & Kiester, 1968, pp. 313–318).
The two groups were not satisfied with their choices and regretted the decision they made more than the participants who had a lower cognitive load (Iyengar and Lepper 2000 pp. 995-1006) we can deduce that the participants with a high cognitive load condition found the task at hand difficult compared to those in the condition of low cognitive load further supporting hypothesis 14.
Post choice satisfaction is partially compounded by the choice set size, this is because although the participants with a larger choice set size load had less satisfaction with their chosen alternative, we can not solely attribute the level of satisfaction t the choice set size because Cognitive load is the underlying variable in choice complexity and is responsible for the level of satisfaction that the participant experienced. We deduce that level of satisfaction did not matter whether the participants had a sample of three or ten gifts from which to choose. Those who had a higher cognitive load experience a more post choice regret. This finding therefore partially supports hypothesis 3 and fully supports H7.
The experiment did not have any measure of task enjoyment. There was no significant proof on the findings of Iyengar & Lepper 2000 pp. 995-1006 which states that participants with a sample size would enjoy the experiment more than those with a small sample size despite the time allowance, this lack of evidence does not support the hypothesis H12. Presenting the participants with a wide variety of options does not necessarily make the process of selection more interesting and fun.
A reason why the participants with a low cognitive load did not regret their options more than the participants with a high cognitive load is that their short-term working memory is not encumbered and so they can objectively weigh the options carefully and examine the best possible choice before making a final decision. High cognitive load affects the ability of the brain to process information accurately, this makes the people with a high cognitive load find the process of choice selection more complex than those with a low cognitive.
From the experiment, it was noted that age and sex did not seem to have a significant effect on the independent variables such as time enjoyment, satisfaction and choice. This can be attributed to the fact that the prizes were differentiated and were appealing to the members of both sexes regardless of the age difference and preference
Therefore, from our discussion we can draw the decision rule:
- Accept: H3 (partly), H7, H13, H14 and H15
- Reject: H1, H2, H3 (partly) H4, H5, H6, H8, H9, H10, H11 and H12
Conclusion
From the two-part experiment that seeks to establish the effect of cognitive load on task difficulty, feeling of post choice regret and choice satisfaction, we find that when the cognitive load is high, the individual is faced with difficulty in making a decision and becomes dissatisfied with the choice he has made.
When the time span in which to make the decision is shortened and the cognitive load remains high the individual does not find making the decision even harder because task difficulty is not dependant on time but on the cognitive load. The choice set size does not have a significant effect on the level of satisfaction, post choice regret or difficulty of the task. We can therefore conclude that there is a strong interrelated relationship between the cognitive load, task difficulty, feeling of post choice regret and choice satisfaction.
References
Hendrick, C., Mills, J., & Kiesler, C. A. (1968). Decision time is a function of the number and complexity of equally attractive alternatives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8, 313–318.
Iyengar, S., & Lepper, M. (2000). When the choice is demotivating: Can one desire too much of a good thing? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 995-1006.
Sweller,J., Van Merrienboer,J., &Pass, F. (1998). Cognitive architecture and instructional design. Educational psychology review, 251-296.