In their study, neuroscientist Chris Frith and his colleagues investigated the ability of two people to combine sensory information. Their results indicate that humans possess a special talent forcombine information from different sensory sourcesand make decisions much stronger than those obtained from a single source. In an initial experiment, the researchers asked study participants in pairs to detect a very weak signal emitted through a computer screen. If the volunteers did not reach an agreement on when the signal had occurred, they debated until they reached a consensual decision. According to the experiment, joint decisions showed higher levels of success. The team also carried out two other experiments that indicated that the most accurate results depend on the team’s capacity for dialogue, and that agreeing with someone else is not enough.
Another experiment revealed thatwhen one of the partners had false information or a lesser skill, the joint decision-making process could be counterproductive. And that, therefore, “joint decisions are not adequate if one of the team members is incompetent and also unaware of his condition.”
