I was trying to find the original Nature article about the deciding study done at the University of Amsterdam that I referenced in an earlier post. (I’m working on the handouts for a teleclass I’m doing for ADDA on October 17, 2006)

The actual article from Nature is no longer available if you don’t pay for it, but I found this reference from Telegraph.co.uk

Here’s the really pertinent part:

Participants in the experiment were asked to choose between four different cars, and were given details of 12 attributes including leg room and mileage about each make and model. The scientists found that people identified the best car around 25 per cent of the time, which was no better than chance. The surprise came when the researchers distracted the participants with puzzles before asking them to make their choices. More than half then managed to pick the best car.

I think that’s a really important concept. You can’t hold all the salient points in your head at once. So let your brain work while you’re not paying attention. It can figure stuff out that you can only imagine might be an easy out.