A televised image of a starving polar bear surrounded by melting icebergs had a greater impact on Mr. Young’s perception of the
extensiveness of climate change than did a statistical chart summarizing the earth’s temperature over the last two hundred years. This suggests that Mr. Young’s assessment of the climate change issue is influenced by: the representativeness heuristic
confirmation bias
fixation
the availability heuristic
overconfidence
Mental acuity refers to being mentally sharp. If you're mentally sharp, you have an excellent memory, and you find it easy to complete different tasks. Lack of sleep can effect this.
