Speed of Risk Perception is Connected to How Information is Arranged

Researchers studied how nurses respond to words indicating high or low-risk ailments. They examined if certain words led to faster responses depending on their position (left or right). The study found quicker reactions to words representing extreme risks, but individuals showed varying directional biases. These insights could help improve how clinical information is presented (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Dichotomous horizontal representation of acute deterioration risk on illnesses

Go to source). With every incoming medical emergency, nurses are required to assess acute deterioration risks both accurately and quickly. Yet, there is much we don’t know about how human beings, let alone medical professionals, perceive and gauge risk from written information. Any edge we can gain in honing the efficiency with which nursing professionals read and digest information on a daily basis may mean better medical care, and lives saved.

A team consisting of Ryo Hishiya and Professor Masami Ishihara from Tokyo Metropolitan University have been studying how the arrangement of information in space (e.g. left or right) can affect how we perceive that information.

The Science Behind the SNARC Effect: How We Process Numbers Spatially

Previous studies have demonstrated what is known as the Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect. Imagine an experiment where people are presented with a reference number, and two horizontally aligned buttons, one labelled “higher,” the other “lower.” When a different number flashes up, they are asked to press the correct button relating the new number to the reference. When the number is lower, it turns out that people respond faster when the “lower” button is on the left. Similar studies have been run using musical pitch, loudness of a sound, weight, or dates. There is a biased spatial aspect to how we perceive quantity. The effect has even been seen in birds and insects.

Now, the team looked at whether such effects carry over into relative perception of risk. Nurses participating in the study were asked to do the same, only now, the reference was a medical condition (“prostate cancer”). When other conditions were displayed, they were asked to press the correct button showing whether the new condition was higher or lower in terms of acute deterioration risk.

It turns out that the risk perception version of this effect, called Spatial-Risk Association of Response Codes (SRARC) by the team, is present for individuals, but different individuals have biases in different directions (either left-to-right or right-to-left for lower-to-higher risk).

The team say that more work is needed to really understand how this reflects how human beings process risk. But they have their sights set on other important aims: as the first author of the study is a qualified nurse, the team are striving to ensure that their new insights might be applied to create a safer, more effective clinical environment.

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Reference:

1. Dichotomous horizontal representation of acute deterioration risk on illnesses - (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-81592-8)

Source-Eurekalert