Cognition & Bridge

Theory

What is a bridge player's style ?

To define what is meant by "style" we drew inspiration from the literature on personality. Thus, the style of bridge players corresponds to the psychological characteristics that determine their actions.

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Method

A science of the bridge player, is it possible?

The scientific study of thought has become possible since the emergence of experimental psychology. Getting into the mind of a bridge player involves finding a way to observe their way of thinking.

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Studying the style of bridge players, a 2-steps experiment

To study the notion of style, we set a 2-steps experiment: first we try to reveal the psychological characteristics that could be part of the style of the players. Then we test whether these characteristics have an effect on bridge players' decisions.

Results

Experiment 1

Against all expectations, we can describe what bridge players think using only 5 factors: emotionality, aggressiveness, experience, discipline and creativity.

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Some concepts in Cognitive Science

Theory of mind is magic !

Theory of mind is the ability to think in others' shoes and to anticipate their actions. So everyone would be a potential mentalist.

Personality, between reality and illusion

Personality is a set of personality traits that determine the actions of individuals. However, personality suffers from its poor predictive power.

Empiricism: the most beautiful experiment ever carried out on the unconscious cognition

In 1998, Stanislas Dehaene revolutionized the study of the cognitive unconscious.