Oddly Wired
← all facts
decision making

Your ability to make good choices erodes all day.

A 2011 study observed that judges granted fewer favorable decisions as a decision session progressed, with rates returning to baseline after a break, which researchers suggested may be linked to hunger.

The study's conclusion that hunger is the primary causal factor is debated, as non-random case scheduling may explain the observed pattern.

The timing of your decisions is just as important as the logic.

Where this comes from

Study
Danziger, Levav, and Avnaim-Pesso, 2011
What the check found
While the study observed this pattern and proposed hunger as the mechanism, the causal link is contested due to potential selection bias in how cases are ordered, rather than just the judge's physiological state.
Confidence
Solid, with limits

Related

One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.