The production and perception of randomness
Abstract
This article contains a discussion of the elusive nature of the concept of randomness, a review of findings from experiments with randomness production and randomness perception tasks, and a presentation of theoretical treatments of people's randomization capabilities and limitations. The importance of task instructions and the difficulty of interpreting results when instructions are vague or ambiguous are stressed. The widely held view that people are incapable of generating or recognizing randomness is shown to lack the strong experimental support that has sometimes been claimed for it.
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Over-alternation bias leads us to believe that if something has just occurred, it is less likely to occur again.
“For instance, the over-alternation bias leads us to believe that if something has just occurred, it is less likely to occur again [25 , 26] .”
From Enhancing human-AI collaboration: The case of colonoscopy (2024) · cites this paper as [26]
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On the psychology of prediction.
Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1973) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/h0034747 · Cited by 6,202 · see citing works
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Processing of Temporal Unpredictability in Human and Animal Amygdala
Herry, C., Bach, D. R., Esposito, F., Di Salle, F., Perrig, W. J., Scheffler, K., Lüthi, A., & Seifritz, E. (2007) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.5218-06.2007 · Cited by 401 · see citing works
Reinforcement learning and decision making in monkeys during a competitive game
Lee, D., Conroy, M. L., McGreevy, B. P., & Barraclough, D. J. (2004) · Cognitive Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2004.07.007 · Cited by 156 · see citing works
Clever hands: Uncontrolled intelligence in facilitated communication.
Wegner, D. M., Fuller, V. A., & Sparrow, B. (2003) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.85.1.5 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Enhancing human-AI collaboration: The case of colonoscopy
Introzzi, L., Zonca, J., Cabitza, F., Cherubini, P., & Reverberi, C. (2024) · Digestive and Liver Disease · doi:10.1016/j.dld.2023.10.018 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Colas, J. T., O’Doherty, J. P., & Grafton, S. T. (2024) · PLOS Computational Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011950 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
- Authors
- Nickerson, R. S.
- Affiliations
- Tufts University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Nickerson, Raymond S.
- Venue
- Psychological Review
- Published
- 2002
- Volume
- 109
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 330-357
- ISSN
- 0033-295X (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1471
- OpenAlex
- W2064520478
- Cited by
- 247
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 4.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Review (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Probability and Statistical Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Cognitive Science and Education Research
- Keywords
- randomness, randomness perception, task instructions, ambiguous instructions
- MeSH terms
- Cognition, Humans, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Perception
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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
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