Hidden in plain sight: payoffs, probability, space, and time in isomorphic tasks (Q6565037)

In this study the authors capture subject behavior in first price sealed bid and Dutch auctions, and in purpose-built risk elicitation procedures, all rendered isomorphic by appropriate design and parameter settings, including the use of a robot-bidder opponent in the auctions. The authors find that subjects faced with a 2-D display, where areas map to payoffs and probabilities, demonstrate bidding behavior that is not statistically different from that measured when an interactive numerical tool calculates payoffs and probabilities for the subject. This paper also serves to demonstrate a methodological approach applicable elsewhere: the nesting of several distinct tasks in a space (defined over task attributes) of sufficient dimension to span all the nested tasks.