According to Unconscious Thought Theory (UTT: Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006), complex decisions are best made after a period of distraction assumed to elicit “unconscious thought”. Over three studies, respectively offering a conceptual, an identical and a methodologically improved replication of Dijksterhuis et al. (2006), we reassessed UTT’s predictions and dissected the decision task used to demonstrate these predictions. We failed to find any evidence for the benefits of unconscious decision-making. By contrast, we found some evidence that conscious deliberation can lead to better decisions. Further, we identified methodological weaknesses in the UTT decision task: (a) attributes weighting was neglected although attributes were seen as different in importance; (b) the material was not properly counterbalanced; and (c) there was some confusion in the experimental instructions. We propose methodological improvements that address these concerns. Keywords: unconscious thought, conscious thought, decision-making. 1

Having power means that one makes decisions that determine the outcomes of less powerful others (e.g., Deprét & Fiske, 1993). In fact, powerful people sometimes face multiple impactful, complicated decisions a day, with little room for error. How do they accomplish this? Recent research indicates that power changes not only a person’s responsibilities, but also the way a person thinks. The powerful process information more abstractly—integrating information to extract the gist, detecting patterns and relationships—than the powerless (Smith & Trope, 2006). Work on unconscious-thought theory (UTT; Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006) suggests that such abstract thinking leads to better decisions when the situation is complex. Individuals who think consciously are unable to consider all relevant attributes, due to consciousness ’ limited capacity. The piecemeal nature of conscious thought also leads them to weight these attributes suboptimally. In contrast, unconscious thought (i.e., thought when conscious attention is directed elsewhere) is more abstract, integrating information to form a summary judgment. Indeed, unconscious thought leads to better decisions than does conscious thought in complex situations (Dijksterhuis, Bos, Nordgren, & van Baaren, 2006). Conscious thought impairs performance in part because it is piecemeal. If the powerful think more abstractly than the powerless by default, they should tend to think more abstractly even when thinking consciously. The powerful would then be spared the performance deficits accompanying conscious thought. This hypothesis moves beyond the debate of whether the powerful (Fiske, 1993) or the powerless (Smith, Jostmann, Galinsky, & van Dijk, 2008) are normally under greater attentional demands: High-power participants should perform equally well regardless

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Implicit Laboratory Association (ImpLab) is a registered association aimed to foster research and facilitate debate on issues related to implicit cognition. The second annual Workshop of ImpLab was held in June 2007 at Budapest. Cognitive researchers, psychologists, physicists, entrepreneurs, economics and financial experts examined The Role of Intuition in Decision-making and Economics. Participants of the workshop discussed the latest scientific findings of how human intuitive, non-conscious processes could improve business decisions.

Abstract. In this paper we discuss the use of efficient, well thought, subliminal priming in a novel way in the context of a 3D virtual tutoring system. Subliminal priming is a technique used to project information to a learner outside of his perceptual field. Various field claimed using subliminal projections but never in the domain of 3D Intelligent Tutoring Systems. Emotion monitoring is critical in any learning context and thus we monitored the physiological reactions of the user while they learn. We will present the virtual environment and the subliminal module used. The results of this study show that learners enjoy the experience even if they hardly have any video gaming experience at all. Furthermore, subliminal priming, even though not consciously perceived by a learner, seems to elicit strong positive physiological reactions as well as positively impacts performance and overall learning.

Abstract—In this paper we discuss the use of subliminal priming in a novel way in the context of a 3D virtual tutoring system. Subliminal priming is a technique used to project information to a learner outside of his perceptual field. Subliminal projections have been used in various fields but never in the domain of 3D Intelligent Tutoring Systems. We also monitored the physiological reactions of the user while they learn. We will present the virtual environment and the subliminal module used. The results of this study show that learners do feel motivated to learn in a 3D environment and enjoy the experience even if they hardly have any video gaming experience at all. Furthermore, subliminal priming, even though not consciously perceived by a learner, seems to elicit strong physiological reactions as well as positively impacts performance. Index Terms — Intelligent tutoring system, subliminal learning, physiological signals, virtual agents

342 titled “Culturally modified organisms: What it means to be human in the age of culture”,

Abstract. In this paper we take a closer and in-depth look at initial results obtained from a previous novel experiment conducted with a 3D subliminal teaching Intelligent Tutoring System. Subliminal priming is a technique used to project information to a learner outside of his perceptual field. Initial results showed great promise by illustrating the positive impact of the subliminal module on the overall emotional state of the learners as well as their learning performances. Indeed, since emotion monitoring is critical in any learning context, we monitored the physiological reactions of the user while they learned and while they answered questions. We present a detailed and precise look at the optimal affective conditions that set the best learners apart. We will also explain a most surprising finding: the positive long term impact of subliminal priming on the entire learning process.

ABSTRACT—Research has yielded weak empirical support for the idea that creative solutions may be discovered through unconscious thought, despite anecdotes to this effect. To understand this gap, we examined the effect of unconscious thought on two outcomes of a remoteassociation test (RAT): implicit accessibility and conscious reporting of answers. In Experiment 1, which used very difficult RAT items, a short period of unconscious thought (i.e., participants were distracted while holding the goal of solving the RAT items) increased the accessibility of RAT answers, but did not increase the number of correct answers compared with an equal duration of conscious thought or mere distraction. In Experiment 2, which used moderately difficult RAT items, unconscious thought led to a similar level of accessibility, but fewer correct answers, compared with conscious thought. These findings confirm and extend unconscious-thought theory by demonstrating that processes that increase the mental activation of correct solutions do not necessarily lead them into consciousness. Address correspondence to Chen-Bo Zhong, University of Toronto–

Framing experiments seek to rigorously separate out the effects of relevant and irrelevant information on human judgment and choice processes. Because they appear to elegantly streamline the normative analysis of human cognition, these experiments have assumed a central place in the so-called “Rationality Debate ” – the controversy, within and between the various