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Information Processing and Constraint Satisfaction in Wason’s Selection Task

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Author

Editor

  • Jesus M. Larrazabal

Summary, in English

In Wason’s Selection Task, subjects: (i) process information from the instructions and build a mental representation of the problem, then: (ii) select a course of action to solve the problem,under the constraints imposed by the instructions. We analyze both aspects as part of a constraint satisfaction problem without assuming Wason’s ‘logical’ solution to be the correct one. We show that outcome of step (i) may induce mutually inconsistent constraints, causing subjects to select at step (ii) solutions that violate some of them. Our analysis explains why inconsistent constraints are

less likely disrupt non-abstract (or “thematic”) versions of the tasks, but unlike Bayesians does not posit different mechanisms in abstract and thematic variants. We then assess the logicality of the

task, and conclude on cognitive tasks as coordination problems

Department/s

Publishing year

2012

Language

English

Pages

153-162

Publication/Series

Cognition, reasoning, emotion, Action. CogSc-12. Proceedings of the ILCLI International Workshop on Cognitive Science.

Document type

Conference paper

Publisher

University of the Basque Country Press

Topic

  • Philosophy

Conference name

CogSc-12 ILCLI International Workshop on Cognitive Science

Conference date

2012-11-28

Status

Published

Research group

  • Lund University Information Quality Research Group (LUIQ)

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISBN: 978-84-9860-746-8