Inspection times,the change task,and the rapid-response selection task

Abstract

Three experiments are reported, which are based upon the Wason four-card selection task inspection time paradigm, in which subjects solve computer-presented trials while using a mouse to indicate the card currently under consideration. Evans (1996) had shown that selected cards were inspected for longer than non-selected cards, and this was taken as support for the existence of pre-conscious heuristic processes that direct attention towards relevant aspects of a problem. However, Roberts (1998b) suggested that this inspection time effect is artefactual, due to task format induced biases. Experiment 1 utilized a “change” task: Cards were presented either as selected or not selected, and subjects changed these where necessary. This demonstrated an association between card selection and inspection time independently of one between the act of response and inspection time. Experiment 2 utilized a standard selection task, but subjects either responded within 2 s of each card presentation, or made selections with no time pressure. The curtailment of thinking time increased matching behaviour—more cards matching the terms in the rules were selected—and was replicated in Experiment 3 using a within-subjects design. Overall, the data support Evans’ heuristic-analytic framework albeit with some caveats.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Dominowski

R. L.

(1995). Content effects in Wason's selection task. Perspectives on thinking and reasoning. Newstead

S. E.

Evans

J. St. B. T.

Hove, UK: Psychology Press 41–65.

Evans

J. St. B. T.

(1989). Bias in human reasoning: Causes and consequences Hove, UK: Psychology Press.

Evans

J. St. B. T.

(1996). Deciding before you think: Relevance and reasoning in the selection task. British Journal of Psychology 87, 223–240.

Evans

J. St. B. T.

(1998a). Inspection times, relevance and reasoning: A reply to Roberts. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 51A, 811–814.

Evans

J. St. B. T.

(1998b). Matching bias in conditional reasoning: Do we understand it after 25 years?. Thinking and Reasoning 4, 45–52.

Evans

J. St. B. T.

Ball

L. J.

Brooks

P. G.

(1987). Attentional bias and decision order in a reasoning task. British Journal of Psychology 78, 385–394.

Evans

J. St. B. T.

Clibbens

Rood

(1996). The role of implicit and explicit negation in conditional reasoning bias. Journal of Memory and Language 35, 392–409.

Evans

J. St. B. T.

Newstead

S. E.

Byrne

R. M. J.

(1993). Human reasoning: The psychology of deduction Hove, UK: Psychology Press.

Evans

J. St. B. T.

Over

D. E.

(1996). Rationality and reasoning Hove, UK: Psychology Press.

10.

Evans

J. St. B. T.

Over

D. E.

(1997). Rationality in reasoning: The problem of deductive competence. Cahiers de Psychologie Cognitive 16, 3–38.

11.

Evans

J. St. B. T.

Wason

P. C.

(1976). Rationalization in a reasoning task. British Journal of Psychology 67, 479–486.

12.

Green

D. W.

(1995). The abstract selection task: Thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. Perspectives on thinking and reasoning. Newstead

S. E.

Evans

J. St. B. T.

Hove, UK: Psychology Press 173–188.

13.

Griggs

R. A.

Cox

J. R.

(1982). The elusive thematic materials effect in the Wason selection task. British Journal of Psychology 73, 407–420.

14.

Johnson-Laird

P. N.

Byrne

R. M. J.

(1991). Deduction Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Ltd.

15.

Oaksford

Chater

(1994). A rational analysis of the selection task as optimal data selection. Psychological Review 101, 608–631.

16.

Price

E. A.

Driscoll

M. P.

(1997). An inquiry into the spontaneous transfer of problem-solving skill. Contemporary Educational Psychology 22, 472–494.

17.

Rips

L. J.

(1994). The psychology of proof Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

18.

Roberts

M. J.

(1998a). How should relevance be defined? What does inspection time measure?. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 51A, 815–817.

19.

Roberts

M. J.

(1998b). Inspection times and the selection task: Are they relevant?. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 51A, 781–810.

20.

Wason

P. C.

(1972). In real life, negatives are fake. Logique et Analyse 57–58, 19–38.

21.

Wason

P. C.

(1980). The verification task and beyond. Social foundations in language and thought: Essays in honour of Jerome S. Bruner. Olsen

D. R.

New York: W. W. Norton 28–46.

22.

Wason

P. C.

Shapiro

(1971). Natural and contrived experience in a reasoning problem. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 23, 63–71.