Awareness: An empirical model

Abstract

In this work, we face the time-honored problem of the contraposition/integration of analytical and intuitive knowledge, and the impact of such interconnection on the onset of awareness resulting from human decision-making processes. Borrowing the definitions of concepts like intuition, tacit knowledge, uncertainty, metacognition, and emotions from the philosophical, psychological, decision theory, and economic points of view, we propose a skeletonized mathematical model grounded on Markov Decision Processes of these multifaceted concepts. Behavioral patterns that emerged from the solutions of the model enabled us to understand some relevant properties of the interaction between explicit (mainly analytical) and implicit (mainly holistic) knowledge. The impact of the roles played by the same factors for both styles of reasoning and different stages of the decision process has been evaluated. We have found that awareness emerges as a dynamic process allowing the decision-maker to switch from habitual to optimal behavior, resulting from a feedback mechanism of self-observation. Furthermore, emotions are embedded in the model as inner factors, possibly fostering the onset of awareness.