Underlying presuppositions in solving two-term series problems

Researchers are traditionally interested in the sort of psychological processes in which the subjects are engaged when solving two- and three-term series problems under time restrictions. Three models, the Linguistic (Clark), the Spatial Imagery Theory (mainly Huttenlocher) and the Mixed (Sternberg) propose alternative views for explaining the cognitive processes involved during problem solving. The present study was designed to examine the kind of presuppositions the native speakers use when solving two-term series problems under no time restrictions with four classes of adjectives: Ratio (or spatial) with and without context. Ordinal1 and Ordinal2 without context. The results show: (1) contrary to the theories absolute presuppositions is the predominant answer pattern on all adjective groups; (2) context exerts a strong effect on the form of presuppositions elicited by the subjects; (3) the unmarkedness-markedness concept appears pshychologically inconsistent; and (4) presuppositions in two-term series problems under no time restrictions seem to reflect a different sort of cognitive processes from that espoused by the models mentioned.