Central Illustration.

Numerous Factors, Innate and Adaptive, Predispose Us to Cognitive Bias

A biased approach to decision making, although practical, may result in errors. Publication bias in medicine delays the acceptance of novel key ideas, distorts truth, and may negatively impact outcomes by hindering the development and testing of candidate therapies. Debiasing strategies, although underused, can effectively enhance self-awareness of one’s thought processes away from bias and closer to objectivity and truth.