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Poster C in Poster Session C: Wednesday, August 5, 9:30 – 11:15 am, Kimmel Center, Shorin & Rosenthal Rooms

The Claw Machine Task: Modelling Confidence in Tool Use

Polina Arbuzova¹, Paul F. Kinghorn², Poppy Collis², Verena Vanessa Hafner¹; ¹Humboldt Universität Berlin, ²University of Sussex

Presenter: Polina Arbuzova

Advanced tool use requires evaluating a range of uncertainties. We introduce the Claw Machine experimental paradigm, a novel tool-use task in which reward structure and outcome uncertainty are manipulated independently, eliciting separate confidence ratings for action selection and physical execution. Data are reported from a preliminary sample of 36 out of 40 planned participants. A Bayesian negative entropy model, parameterised by inverse temperature β indexing the degree to which reward influences confidence, captures this dissociation: action selection confidence tracks expected utility and varies with reward structure, while execution confidence reflects object properties and outcome variability independently of reward. Model-fitted β did not correlate significantly with independent risk-taking (BART), suggesting reward sensitivity in structured tasks may be dissociable from general risk tolerance under ambiguity.

Topic Area: Decision-Making, Cognitive Control & Event Cognition