"Caught" is a terrible word to use for any examples here. The parent's IPA is handy, but betrays the fact that they actually distinguish between cot and caught, something that by this point is pretty much a regionalism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_Englis...
EDIT: I may have a slight bias as a "General American" user, but I just noticed the parent actually also includes a length suprasegmental modifier, which probably means they're a Received Pronunciation English speaker, or copy-pasted the IPA from somewhere :-D. At any rate, my point that "it sounds like the vowel in 'caught' is pretty ambiguous" still stands.
What you're calling bias, I call caching. Caching is indeed an awesome property of the memory, so you don't take time computing whether fleeing from the danger in front of you is a good idea or not, for instance.
The problem is that cached thoughts are treated as facts by the brain. That's perfect if the thought is accurate, and it helps you interacting with the world. Now, what I call bias, is when the cached thought is out of sync with reality. The speed is no longer useful, as your brain is actively pumping falsehoods to your consciousness. That's the evil thing that needs to disappear.
It would be closer to "caught" \kɔːt\ with a short vowel and a \k\ sound at the end.