Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Fuzzy-trace theory assumes that decision-makers processqualitative “gist” representations and quantitative “verbatim”representations in parallel. Here, we develop a formal modelof fuzzy-trace theory that explains both processes. The modelalso integrates effects of individual differences in numeracy,metacognitive monitoring and editing, and sensation seeking.Parameters of the model varied in theoretically meaningfulways with differences in numeracy, monitoring, and sensationseeking, accounting for risk preferences at multiple levels.Relations to current theories and potential extensions arediscussed.