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Decision structure and time relations in simple choice behavior

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Abstract

The structure of simple decisions is considered in terms of a model which composes such decisions from hypothetical elementary decisions. It is argued that reaction-time data can be treated by the use of the Laplace transform so as to overcome difficulties which negated earlier attempts to analyze choice reactions. The general model leads to complex problems which are formulated but not solved. Two special cases of the model are worked out, and the statistical problem of evaluating the fit of the model is discussed. It is shown that treating decision processing as time-discrete leaves the essential features of the analysis unchanged. Two experimental proposals, to provide data which should be considered in further work on the model, are made.

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Literature

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Author notes

  1. Lee S. Christie

    Present address: Operations Research Office, The Johns Hopkins University, Chevy Chase, Maryland

  2. R. Duncan Luce

    Present address: Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, Californie

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Group Networks Laboratory, Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts, USA

    Lee S. Christie & R. Duncan Luce

Authors
  1. Lee S. Christie
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  2. R. Duncan Luce
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Additional information

This work was carried out when the authors were consultants to the Control Systems Laboratory, University of Illinois. It is a revision of report R-53 of that laboratory issued April 1954, supported under contract DA-36-039-SC-56695.

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Christie, L.S., Luce, R.D. Decision structure and time relations in simple choice behavior. Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 18, 89–112 (1956). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02477834

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02477834

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