Sticky Models

Paul Grass (), Philipp Schirmer () and Malin Siemers ()

CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series from University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany

Abstract: People often form incomplete mental models, having to revise them as new relevant variables become observable. We show experimentally that models are ‘sticky’: revised models remain strongly influenced by earlier models formed using a subset of variables. Sticky models occur across three different data-generating processes and across heterogeneous reasoning types of subjects. Guided by a simple framework of dy namic model formation, we investigate cognitive effort allocation as a key mechanism: across three DGPs, we find that stickiness is driven by subjects who exert relatively less cognitive effort during the model revision relative to the initial model formation.

Keywords: mental models; learning dynamics; attention; mental representation; bounded rationality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D83 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 90
Date: 2026-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe and nep-neu
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