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Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments
Published on: January 23, 2017
Effects of time pressure on context-sensitive property induction.
Patrick Shafto1, John D Coley, David Baldwin
1Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. shafto@mit.edu
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|December 20, 2007
Summary
Time pressure impacts inductive reasoning by limiting access to ecological knowledge. This study shows how knowledge accessibility influences context-sensitive inferences about animal species.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Animal Behavior
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Category-based induction relies on context-dependent knowledge accessibility.
- Understanding how knowledge accessibility influences inductive reasoning is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if knowledge accessibility mediates context-sensitive induction.
- To examine the effects of time pressure on inferences about novel properties of animal species.
Main Methods:
- Participants inferred novel properties (gene or disease) for animal species under speeded or delayed conditions.
- Judgments were made for taxonomically, ecologically, and unrelated animals.
Main Results:
- Taxonomically related species showed property effects regardless of time pressure.
- Ecologically related species only showed property effects in the delayed condition.
Conclusions:
- Time pressure selectively restricts access to ecological knowledge.
- Knowledge access is critical for context-sensitive inductive reasoning in humans.
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