A cognitive fingerprint in human random number generation

Sci Rep. 2021 Oct 12;11(1):20217. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-98315-y.

Abstract

Is the cognitive process of random number generation implemented via person-specific strategies corresponding to highly individual random generation behaviour? We examined random number sequences of 115 healthy participants and developed a method to quantify the similarity between two number sequences on the basis of Damerau and Levenshtein's edit distance. "Same-author" and "different author" sequence pairs could be distinguished (96.5% AUC) based on 300 pseudo-random digits alone. We show that this phenomenon is driven by individual preference and inhibition of patterns and stays constant over a period of 1 week, forming a cognitive fingerprint.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Algorithms
  • Cognition / physiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Young Adult