Analysis of the cognitive aspects of the preference elicitation process in the compensatory context: a neuroscience experiment with FITradeoff

Abstract

Multi‐criteria methods and systems have been developed over many years to support decision‐making with a process of eliciting preferences. The emphasis has been on those that incorporate compensatory rationality, the characteristics of which make the process more complex. Neuroscience has offered the opportunity to capture aspects of cognition, generating insights. This paper investigates the preference elicitation process with Flexible and Interactive Tradeoff (FITradeoff), using electroencephalography and eye‐tracking applied to a sample of undergraduate and graduate students. While FITradeoff offers greater flexibility when evaluating recent advances in the area, the experiment carried out incorporates paradigms present in other methods developed for compensatory rationality. The results indicate the effect the type of predominant criterion has on cognitive effort. Moreover, a non‐linear relationship between the number of criteria and questions was found, which suggests that decision‐makers use a strategy of minimizing cognitive effort. Such findings help to direct efforts to enhance systems and methods with compensatory rationality.

A multicriteria model to support the selection of inspection service providers based on the delay time model

“…Not forcing the DM to finish the decision process since he is satisfied with the partial result is one of the main ways that cognitive effort is reduced. As seen in Silva et al (2022), studying cognitive and behavioral aspects is a valuable process for decisionmaking as it contributes to the development of more effective methods, procedures, and DSS. The DSS and the main publications involving the method are available at http://fitradeoff.org/.…”

“…As seen in Silva et al. (2022), studying cognitive and behavioral aspects is a valuable process for decision‐making as it contributes to the development of more effective methods, procedures, and DSS. The DSS and the main publications involving the method are available at http://fitradeoff.org/.…”