“Wait Short Time” as a Simple and Resource-rational Boost: Theoretical and Empirical Approaches in the Contexts of Speed-accuracy Trade-off

“Wait Short Time” as a Simple and Resource-rational Boost: Theoretical and Empirical Approaches in the Contexts of Speed-accuracy Trade-off | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article “Wait Short Time” as a Simple and Resource-rational Boost: Theoretical and Empirical Approaches in the Contexts of Speed-accuracy Trade-off Masaru Shirasuna, Rina Kagawa, Hidehito Honda This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4284750/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 05 Feb, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Many workers today engage in simple judgment tasks (e.g., on crowdsourcing platforms). This has led to a growing need for interventions to boost their judgment accuracy. We proposed the “wait short time” as a simple and resource-rational intervention: Inserting a short waiting time before presenting alternatives without any instructions. The speed-accuracy trade-off posits that longer thinking typically improves accuracy, whereas resource rationality emphasizes the cognitive costs associated with prolonged thinking (e.g., irritation, cognitive conflict) because of humans limited cognitive resources. Therefore, there should be an appropriately short thinking time to achieve workers’ higher accuracy with minimal workload. We investigated the effectiveness of the proposed intervention both theoretically and empirically. The computer simulations demonstrated that, under assumptions of limited cognitive resources, there was an optimal time point at the early stages of trials for maximizing total benefits. The results of behavioral experiments were consistent with the theoretical findings: Providing a waiting time (1s or 2.5s) improved judgment accuracy, but cognitive conflicts between the alternatives increased over time and an unnecessarily long time (2.5s) induced more subjective irritation. Consequently, an appropriate time (1s) could enhance judgment accuracy with less workload. We discuss the implications and limitations of the proposed intervention. Biological sciences/Psychology Biological sciences/Psychology/Human behaviour speed-accuracy trade-off resource rationality thinking costs boost judgment accuracy Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files 240416v01mouseSI.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 05 Feb, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 06 Aug, 2024 Reviews received at journal 29 Jul, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 16 Jul, 2024 Reviews received at journal 16 Jul, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 16 Jul, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 16 Jul, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 16 Jul, 2024 Editor invited by journal 19 Apr, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 19 Apr, 2024 First submitted to journal 17 Apr, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4284750","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":293945115,"identity":"1c8a49b9-5656-4b8e-a6e5-9d0b5ec39618","order_by":0,"name":"Masaru Shirasuna","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABC0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYHACNoYEKOvghwobORDjwAMitTAeljiTZgzWkoBbOUQLFDAf4G07nNgAYuLTotvA/uzBwz129ga3mx8ckGxjTp8fdvgh0BY7Od0G7FrMDvCYGyQ8S07ccOeYwYGCc2y5G2+nGQC1JBubHcCphU0i4QBzgsGNBIMDEmU8uRtnJ4C0HEjchlML+zOglnp7gxvpH0Da0w1nAxn4tTCYAbUcZtxwI8fgAE+bQYK8dA4BWw7zgLQcT5x5I6cAGMgJhhukcwoOJBjg8cvx9meSPw5U2/PdSN/88UPFf3n52embP3yosJPDpYWBGV3AAKzSAIdyrEC+gRTVo2AUjIJRMBIAAMHPaXSWzvPlAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Otemon Gakuin University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Masaru","middleName":"","lastName":"Shirasuna","suffix":""},{"id":293945116,"identity":"43d77387-442c-440b-908f-a0b5ede34b82","order_by":1,"name":"Rina Kagawa","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Tsukuba","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rina","middleName":"","lastName":"Kagawa","suffix":""},{"id":293945117,"identity":"2185ce6a-5b30-470f-822a-c73650b5b73e","order_by":2,"name":"Hidehito Honda","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Otemon Gakuin University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hidehito","middleName":"","lastName":"Honda","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-04-18 03:14:26","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4284750/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4284750/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-87119-z","type":"published","date":"2025-02-05T15:57:51+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":75930471,"identity":"8ddd17c4-32fd-4db8-8201-7ca0f087f510","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-02-10 16:12:12","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1279046,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"240416mouseSciRep.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4284750/v1_covered_e47f548a-ef94-4cd0-a4b3-29edac344189.pdf"},{"id":55131476,"identity":"4b63e906-92ff-49e7-b525-8d5a712225c0","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-04-23 04:46:45","extension":"pdf","order_by":10,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":622104,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"240416v01mouseSI.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4284750/v1/8949e36e7f0423b365d003e4.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"“Wait Short Time” as a Simple and Resource-rational Boost: Theoretical and Empirical Approaches in the Contexts of Speed-accuracy Trade-off","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"speed-accuracy trade-off, resource rationality, thinking costs, boost, judgment accuracy","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4284750/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4284750/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Many workers today engage in simple judgment tasks (e.g., on crowdsourcing platforms). 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