Presumably your brain reacts to the reminder that this is real money, and you tend to be more cautious. Or the lack of a reminder, fools you in to forgetting to total the cost.
“…customers given a menu without dollar signs spent significantly more than customers who had menus with dollar signs.”
http://lifehacker.com/menu-formatting-could-affect-how-much-you-spend-at-a-re-1607439738