Role and Priming Effect of Pre-Acquired Memories in Abstract Decision-Making

Abstract

From a neuropsychological perspective, the brain is confronted daily by decision-making processes. Decision-making is influenced by many factors, from biological stimuli to reward assessments. In abstract decision-making, where no logical decision is forthcoming, choices still need to be made. Many priming factors can be involved in these decision-making situations. There is a need to understand what role pre-acquired memories (verbal, aesthetic, color, phonetic, emotional, etc.) play in abstract decision-making. Therefore, we conducted a survey of 40 people, including 14 (35%) men and 26 (65%) women aged 20 years (deviation = ±1.5), with medical backgrounds. All the questions in the survey form were abstract, non-binary, result-oriented, and had no specific logical answers. There was no specific priming information or reference clue that could direct participants towards a specific answer. This approach was taken so as to discover the real primer that the brain relies on when confronting abstract decision-making situations. From our analysis we found that previously acquired memories can influence persons’ choices in abstract decision-making situations. Furthermore, we concluded that these memories have unconscious, subtle, and long-term priming effects.