Helena Matute
Biographic Data
| ID | 2212843 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Helena Matute |
| GIVEN NAMES | Helena |
| FAMILY NAME | Matute |
| SIGNATURE | MATUTE H |
| AFFILIATIONS | Universidad de Deusto |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7221-1366 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 10 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Thinking fast and biased
The illusion of causality is a cognitive bias in which individuals believe that a potential cause produces an outcome even when the contingency between the two is null. Although no definitive theoretical explanation has been established for this bias, it has been linked to heuristic or associative processes that operate automatically and rely on intuition rather than deliberate reasoning. In this paper, we present two pre-registered studies exami…
Machine learning systems as mentors in human learning
While accurate AI systems can enhance human performance, exerting both an augmentation and good mentoring effect, imperfect systems may act as poor mentors, transmitting biases and systematic errors to users. However, there is still limited research on the potential for AI to transmit biases to humans, an effect that could be even more pronounced for less experienced users, such as novices or trainees, making decisions supported by AI-based syste…
A debiasing intervention to reduce the causality bias in undergraduates
The causality bias, or causal illusion, occurs when people believe that there is a causal relationship between events that are actually uncorrelated. This bias is associated with many problems in everyday life, including pseudoscience, stereotypes, prejudices, and ideological extremism. Some evidence-based educational interventions have been developed to reduce causal illusions. To the best of our knowledge, these interventions have included a bi…
Scarcity affects cognitive biases
Previous research indicates that economic scarcity affects people's judgments, decisions, and cognition in a variety of contexts, and with various consequences. We hypothesized that scarcity could sometimes reduce cognitive biases. Specifically, it could reduce the causal illusion, a cognitive bias that is at the heart of superstitions and irrational thoughts, and consists of believing that two events are causally connected when they are not. In …
When did it happen? Verbal information about causal relations affects time estimation
Usually, the closer two events occur, the more likely people infer a causal relationship between them. Recent studies have shown that this relationship between time and causality is bidirectional. Participants also tend to judge events closer in time if they assume that they are causally related. We present six experiments showing causal binding, but unlike other experiments, participants do not emit any motor action, and no physical feedback is …
Diseases that resolve spontaneously can increase the belief that ineffective treatments work
We conclude that self-limited diseases can produce strong overestimations of effectiveness for treatments that actually produce no effect. This has practical implications for preventative and primary health services. The data and materials that support these experiments are freely available at the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/xt3z9/). https://bit.ly/2FMPrMi
Learning to infer the time of our actions and decisions from their consequences
Research shows that people infer the time of their actions and decisions from their consequences. We asked how people know how much time to subtract from consequences in order to infer their actions and decisions. They could either subtract a fixed, default, time from consequences, or learn from experience how much time to subtract in each situation. In two experiments, participants' actions were followed by a tone, which was presented either imm…
The dark side of cognitive illusions
Cognitive illusions are often associated with mental health and well-being. However, they are not without risk. This research shows they can interfere with the acquisition of evidence-based knowledge. During the first phase of the experiment, one group of participants was induced to develop a strong illusion that a placebo medicine was effective to treat a fictitious disease, whereas another group was induced to develop a weak illusion. Then, inP…
The role of outcome inhibition in interference between outcomes
Current associative theories of contingency learning assume that inhibitory learning plays a part in the interference between outcomes. However, it is unclear whether this inhibitory learning results in the inhibition of the outcome representation or whether it simply counteracts previous excitatory learning so that the outcome representation is neither activated nor inhibited. Additionally, these models tend to conceptualize inhibition as a rela…
Illusions of causality at the heart of pseudoscience
Pseudoscience, superstitions, and quackery are serious problems that threaten public health and in which many variables are involved. Psychology, however, has much to say about them, as it is the illusory perceptions of causality of so many people that needs to be understood. The proposal we put forward is that these illusions arise from the normal functioning of the cognitive system when trying to associate causes and effects. Thus, we propose t…
Augmentation in contingency learning under time pressure
Recent research suggests that cue competition effects in human contingency learning, such as blocking, are due to higher-order cognitive processes. Moreover, some experimental reports suggest that the effect opposite to blocking, augmentation, could occur in experimental preparations that preclude the intervention of reasoning mechanisms. In the present research, we tested this hypothesis by investigating cue interaction effects in an experimenta…
Illusions of causality at the heart of pseudoscience
Pseudoscience, superstitions, and quackery are serious problems that threaten public health and in which many variables are involved. Psychology, however, has much to say about them, as it is the illusory perceptions of causality of so many people that needs to be understood. The proposal we put forward is that these illusions arise from the normal functioning of the cognitive system when trying to associate causes and effects. Thus, we propose t…
The dark side of cognitive illusions
Cognitive illusions are often associated with mental health and well-being. However, they are not without risk. This research shows they can interfere with the acquisition of evidence-based knowledge. During the first phase of the experiment, one group of participants was induced to develop a strong illusion that a placebo medicine was effective to treat a fictitious disease, whereas another group was induced to develop a weak illusion. Then, inP…
Augmentation in contingency learning under time pressure
Recent research suggests that cue competition effects in human contingency learning, such as blocking, are due to higher-order cognitive processes. Moreover, some experimental reports suggest that the effect opposite to blocking, augmentation, could occur in experimental preparations that preclude the intervention of reasoning mechanisms. In the present research, we tested this hypothesis by investigating cue interaction effects in an experimenta…
Augmentation in contingency learning under time pressure
Recent research suggests that cue competition effects in human contingency learning, such as blocking, are due to higher-order cognitive processes. Moreover, some experimental reports suggest that the effect opposite to blocking, augmentation, could occur in experimental preparations that preclude the intervention of reasoning mechanisms. In the present research, we tested this hypothesis by investigating cue interaction effects in an experimenta…
Illusions of causality at the heart of pseudoscience
Pseudoscience, superstitions, and quackery are serious problems that threaten public health and in which many variables are involved. Psychology, however, has much to say about them, as it is the illusory perceptions of causality of so many people that needs to be understood. The proposal we put forward is that these illusions arise from the normal functioning of the cognitive system when trying to associate causes and effects. Thus, we propose t…
The role of outcome inhibition in interference between outcomes
Current associative theories of contingency learning assume that inhibitory learning plays a part in the interference between outcomes. However, it is unclear whether this inhibitory learning results in the inhibition of the outcome representation or whether it simply counteracts previous excitatory learning so that the outcome representation is neither activated nor inhibited. Additionally, these models tend to conceptualize inhibition as a rela…
The dark side of cognitive illusions
Cognitive illusions are often associated with mental health and well-being. However, they are not without risk. This research shows they can interfere with the acquisition of evidence-based knowledge. During the first phase of the experiment, one group of participants was induced to develop a strong illusion that a placebo medicine was effective to treat a fictitious disease, whereas another group was induced to develop a weak illusion. Then, inP…
Learning to infer the time of our actions and decisions from their consequences
Research shows that people infer the time of their actions and decisions from their consequences. We asked how people know how much time to subtract from consequences in order to infer their actions and decisions. They could either subtract a fixed, default, time from consequences, or learn from experience how much time to subtract in each situation. In two experiments, participants' actions were followed by a tone, which was presented either imm…
Diseases that resolve spontaneously can increase the belief that ineffective treatments work
We conclude that self-limited diseases can produce strong overestimations of effectiveness for treatments that actually produce no effect. This has practical implications for preventative and primary health services. The data and materials that support these experiments are freely available at the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/xt3z9/). https://bit.ly/2FMPrMi
A debiasing intervention to reduce the causality bias in undergraduates
The causality bias, or causal illusion, occurs when people believe that there is a causal relationship between events that are actually uncorrelated. This bias is associated with many problems in everyday life, including pseudoscience, stereotypes, prejudices, and ideological extremism. Some evidence-based educational interventions have been developed to reduce causal illusions. To the best of our knowledge, these interventions have included a bi…
Scarcity affects cognitive biases
Previous research indicates that economic scarcity affects people's judgments, decisions, and cognition in a variety of contexts, and with various consequences. We hypothesized that scarcity could sometimes reduce cognitive biases. Specifically, it could reduce the causal illusion, a cognitive bias that is at the heart of superstitions and irrational thoughts, and consists of believing that two events are causally connected when they are not. In …
When did it happen? Verbal information about causal relations affects time estimation
Usually, the closer two events occur, the more likely people infer a causal relationship between them. Recent studies have shown that this relationship between time and causality is bidirectional. Participants also tend to judge events closer in time if they assume that they are causally related. We present six experiments showing causal binding, but unlike other experiments, participants do not emit any motor action, and no physical feedback is …
Machine learning systems as mentors in human learning
While accurate AI systems can enhance human performance, exerting both an augmentation and good mentoring effect, imperfect systems may act as poor mentors, transmitting biases and systematic errors to users. However, there is still limited research on the potential for AI to transmit biases to humans, an effect that could be even more pronounced for less experienced users, such as novices or trainees, making decisions supported by AI-based syste…
Thinking fast and biased
The illusion of causality is a cognitive bias in which individuals believe that a potential cause produces an outcome even when the contingency between the two is null. Although no definitive theoretical explanation has been established for this bias, it has been linked to heuristic or associative processes that operate automatically and rely on intuition rather than deliberate reasoning. In this paper, we present two pre-registered studies exami…
Psychology (9 works) · Cognition (8 works) · Cognitive psychology (8 works) · Social Psychology (6 works) · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics (5 works) · Illusion (5 works) · Artificial Intelligence (4 works) · Causality (physics) (3 works) · Computer Science (3 works) · Contingency (3 works)