Origins of Cognitive Biases

The Origins of Cognitive Biases

It is interesting to speculate about the origins of cognitive biases. For example, is it possible to link these biases to neurobiological processes ? One hypothesis that deserves consideration is that cognitive biases emerge from a right hemisphere mode of information processing. Most researchers agree that the left and right hemisphere have different cognitive characteristics. Whereas the left hemisphere would mediate analytic and serial operations, the right hemisphere would sustain holistic and imaginal operations. Tucker and Newman have argued that the left hemisphere-processing mode is very effective in controlling emotional reactions.

In contrast, the right hemisphere mode would lead to an intensification of affect. This suggestion makes sense because one may expect that the global and imprecise approach of the right hemisphere enhances hyperattention to threat and overestimation of aversive outcome. Interestingly, studies by Davidson indicate that there are stable individual differences in frontal EEG asymmetry. More specifically, Davidson’s work shows that habitual right frontal overactivation (as indexed by EEG background activity) is, indeed, related to an affective style that is characterised by lowered thresholds for avoidance behaviour and negative affect. Thus, it may well be the case that a chronic right hemisphere overactivity is involved in cognitive biases and the maintenance of fear.

Although there is some experimental work that supports this causal relationship, further research is needed to examine whether habitual right hemisphere overactivation is the source of the cognitive biases that occur in anxiety disorders. Studies that are more recent, reviewed by Heller and Nitschke , suggest that theoretical progress in this research domain depends on a more fine-grained analysis of the behavioural functions of frontal and parieto-temporal regions. According to these authors, one needs to distinguish between anxious apprehension, which seems to be a function of left frontal regions, and anxious arousal which seems to be driven by right parieto-temporal areas.

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