Interventions aimed at overcoming intuitive interference: insights from brain-imaging and behavioral studies

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Learning Sciences

Background:

• Students often face challenges in comparative tasks, particularly when salient, irrelevant variables interfere with the intended comparison.
• In the perimeter comparison task, area serves as a salient irrelevant variable, leading to performance decrements in incongruent trials compared to congruent ones.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review empirical studies investigating interventions aimed at improving student performance in the perimeter comparison task.
• To explore the efficacy of enhancing inhibitory control mechanisms and increasing the salience of the relevant perimeter variable.

Main Methods:

• The review synthesizes findings from behavioral and brain-imaging studies.
• Empirical investigations explored two primary intervention strategies: activating inhibitory control and increasing the salience of the relevant perimeter variable.

Main Results:

• Both intervention strategies—enhancing inhibitory control and increasing perimeter salience—demonstrated significant improvements in student performance.
• Performance, measured by accuracy and reaction time, was enhanced in incongruent trials following these interventions.

Conclusions:

• Interventions that bolster inhibitory control or emphasize the relevant perimeter variable are effective in mitigating interference from irrelevant variables like area.
• These findings have significant theoretical and practical implications for educational strategies designed to improve students' comparative reasoning skills.