The cognitive effects of jury aids on decision-making in complex civil litigation

Two hundred seventy nine individuals served as mock jury members in a civil trial that involved multiple plaintiffs and several expert witnesses. Juries were or were not provided with written summary statements of the testimony of expert scientific witnesses, and were either permitted or not permitted to take notes. The results showed that the combination of summary statements and note-taking had a synergistic effect on the quality of decision-making.Mock juries enabled by both cognitive aids provided significantly higher awards, as compared to mock juries aided by one or none of the jury-aids, to the most severely injured plaintiffs without increasing compensation for those less worthy. Aided mock juries also recalled more probative evidence than non-aided jurors, and were more satisfied with the efficacy of their deliberations.