Bettina von Helversen | University of Bremen (original) (raw)
Papers by Bettina von Helversen
Motivation and Emotion, 2008
Numerous studies examined the role of processing effort in judgments using the ''ease-of-processi... more Numerous studies examined the role of processing effort in judgments using the ''ease-of-processing'' paradigm in which participants generate or retrieve few or many issue-relevant thoughts. Because earlier studies only assessed the subjective effort, it is unclear if this paradigm also mobilizes objective effort, and how such effort relates to subjective effort. These questions were addressed in two experiments modeled on standard tasks from the processing effort literature: ''ease of argument generation'' (Study 1) and ''ease of retrieval'' (Study 2). In both experiments we simultaneously measured subjective effort (via self-report) and objective effort (via cardiovascular reactivity). The results showed that processing ease manipulations (generation or retrieval of few vs. many exemplars) influence not only subjective effort, but also objective effort, as reflected especially by increases of systolic blood pressure in the many exemplars condition. However, only subjective effort was related to judgment. In the discussion, we consider the role of various forms of effort and other relevant variables in ''processing ease'' effects.
PLoS ONE, 2013
In the animal kingdom, camouflage refers to patterns that help potential prey avoid detection. Mo... more In the animal kingdom, camouflage refers to patterns that help potential prey avoid detection. Mostly camouflage is thought of as helping prey blend in with their background. In contrast, disruptive or dazzle patterns protect moving targets and have been suggested as an evolutionary force in shaping the dorsal patterns of animals. Dazzle patterns, such as stripes and zigzags, are thought to reduce the probability with which moving prey will be captured by impairing predators' perception of speed. We investigated how different patterns of stripes (longitudinal-i.e., parallel to movement directionand vertical-i.e., perpendicular to movement direction) affect the probability with which humans can hit moving objects and if differences in hitting probability are caused by a misperception of speed. A first experiment showed that longitudinally striped objects were hit more often than unicolored objects. However, vertically striped objects did not differ from unicolored objects. A second study examining the link between perceived speed and hitting probability showed that longitudinally and vertically striped objects were both perceived as moving faster and were hit more often than unicolored objects. In sum, our results provide evidence that striped patterns disrupt the perception of speed, which in turn influences how often objects are hit. However, the magnitude and the direction of the effects depend on additional factors such as speed and the task setup.
Journal of Economic Psychology, 2015
ABSTRACT Consumers’ purchase decisions depend on whether a product is perceived as a bargain or a... more ABSTRACT Consumers’ purchase decisions depend on whether a product is perceived as a bargain or as overpriced. But how do consumers evaluate sales prices? The standard approach in economics, psychology, and marketing suggests that consumers’ estimates are best described by a attribute-based or piecemeal strategy that integrates information about products in a linear additive fashion. Here, we outline and test an alternative theoretical approach from the categorization literature suggesting that consumers sometimes follow an exemplar-based strategy that relies on similarity to previously encountered products. We hypothesize that people switch between these two estimation strategies depending on the context they face. To test this hypothesis, we conducted an experiment in which 64 participants repeatedly estimated the market price of different consumer products (bottles of wine). In one condition, the product prices could be well approximated with an attribute-based strategy whereas in the other condition an exemplar-based strategy worked best. Results of a subsequent testing phase indicated that participants switched between strategies depending on the structure of the presented sets. These results show that people rely on different strategies to estimate market prices, which should influence people’s consumption behavior. The results suggest that theories on categorization learning can provide a deeper insight into behavior in an economic context and allow predicting consumer behavior more accurately.
Topics in cognitive science, Jan 27, 2015
Search is a prerequisite for successful performance in a broad range of tasks ranging from making... more Search is a prerequisite for successful performance in a broad range of tasks ranging from making decisions between consumer goods to memory retrieval. How does aging impact search processes in such disparate situations? Aging is associated with structural and neuromodulatory brain changes that underlie cognitive control processes, which in turn have been proposed as a domain-general mechanism controlling search in external environments as well as memory. We review the aging literature to evaluate the cognitive control hypothesis that suggests that age-related change in cognitive control underlies age differences in both external and internal search. We also consider the limits of the cognitive control hypothesis and propose additional mechanisms such as changes in strategy use and affect that may be necessary to understand how aging affects search.
Cognition, 2015
Recent research suggests that when people retrieve information from memory they tend to fixate on... more Recent research suggests that when people retrieve information from memory they tend to fixate on the location where the information had appeared during encoding. We used this phenomenon to investigate if different information is activated in memory when people use a rule- versus a similarity-based decision strategy. In two studies, participants first memorized multiple pieces of information about various job candidates (exemplars). In subsequent test trials they judged the suitability of new candidates that varied in their similarity to the previously learned exemplars. Results show that when using similarity, but not when using a rule, participants fixated longer on the previous location of exemplars that resembled the new candidates than on the location of dissimilar exemplars. This suggests that people using similarity retrieve previously learned exemplars, whereas people using a rule do not. The study illustrates that eye movements can provide new insights into the memory proce...
Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2014
Making accurate judgments is a core human competence and a prerequisite for success in many areas... more Making accurate judgments is a core human competence and a prerequisite for success in many areas of life. Plenty of evidence exists that people can employ different judgment strategies to solve identical judgment problems. In categorization, it has been demonstrated that similarity-based and rule-based strategies are associated with activity in different brain regions. Building on this research, the present work tests whether solving two identical judgment problems recruits different neural substrates depending on people's judgment strategies. Combining cognitive modeling of judgment strategies at the behavioral level with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we compare brain activity when using two archetypal judgment strategies: a similarity-based exemplar strategy and a rule-based heuristic strategy. Using an exemplar-based strategy should recruit areas involved in long-term memory processes to a larger extent than a heuristic strategy. In contrast, using a heuristi...
Journal of experimental psychology. General, 2014
Making accurate judgments is an essential skill in everyday life. Although how different memory a... more Making accurate judgments is an essential skill in everyday life. Although how different memory abilities relate to categorization and judgment processes has been hotly debated, the question is far from resolved. We contribute to the solution by investigating how individual differences in memory abilities affect judgment performance in 2 tasks that induced rule-based or exemplar-based judgment strategies. In a study with 279 participants, we investigated how working memory and episodic memory affect judgment accuracy and strategy use. As predicted, participants switched strategies between tasks. Furthermore, structural equation modeling showed that the ability to solve rule-based tasks was predicted by working memory, whereas episodic memory predicted judgment accuracy in the exemplar-based task. Last, the probability of choosing an exemplar-based strategy was related to better episodic memory, but strategy selection was unrelated to working memory capacity. In sum, our results sugg...
Journal of Experimental Psychology-General, 2008
How do people make quantitative estimations, such as estimating a car's selling price? Traditiona... more How do people make quantitative estimations, such as estimating a car's selling price? Traditionally, linear-regression-type models have been used to answer this question. These models assume that people weight and integrate all information available to estimate a criterion. The authors propose an alternative cognitive theory for quantitative estimation. The mapping model, inspired by the work of N. R. Brown and R. S. Siegler (1993) on metrics and mappings, offers a heuristic approach to decision making. The authors test this model against established alternative models of estimation, namely, linear regression, an exemplar model, and a simple estimation heuristic. With 4 experimental studies the authors compare the models under different environmental conditions. The mapping model proves to be a valid model to predict people's estimates.
Psychology and Aging, 2012
Motivation and Emotion, 2008
Numerous studies examined the role of processing effort in judgments using the ''ease-of-processi... more Numerous studies examined the role of processing effort in judgments using the ''ease-of-processing'' paradigm in which participants generate or retrieve few or many issue-relevant thoughts. Because earlier studies only assessed the subjective effort, it is unclear if this paradigm also mobilizes objective effort, and how such effort relates to subjective effort. These questions were addressed in two experiments modeled on standard tasks from the processing effort literature: ''ease of argument generation'' (Study 1) and ''ease of retrieval'' (Study 2). In both experiments we simultaneously measured subjective effort (via self-report) and objective effort (via cardiovascular reactivity). The results showed that processing ease manipulations (generation or retrieval of few vs. many exemplars) influence not only subjective effort, but also objective effort, as reflected especially by increases of systolic blood pressure in the many exemplars condition. However, only subjective effort was related to judgment. In the discussion, we consider the role of various forms of effort and other relevant variables in ''processing ease'' effects.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 2009
The cognitive processes underlying quantitative estimations vary. Past research has identified ta... more The cognitive processes underlying quantitative estimations vary. Past research has identified taskcontingent changes between rule-based and exemplar-based processes (P. Juslin, L. H. Olsson, 2008). B. von Helversen and, however, proposed a simple rule-based model-the mapping model-that outperformed the exemplar model in a task thought to promote exemplar-based processing. This raised questions about the assumptions of rule-based versus exemplarbased models that underlie the notion of task contingency of cognitive processes. Rule-based models, such as the mapping model, assume the abstraction of explicit task knowledge. In contrast, exemplar models should profit if storage and activation of the exemplars is facilitated. Two studies tested the importance of the two models' assumptions. When knowledge about cues existed, the rule-based mapping model predicted quantitative estimations best. In contrast, when knowledge about the cues was difficult to gain, participants' estimations were best described by an exemplar model. The results emphasize the task contingency of cognitive processes. ), we assume that the cognitive processes underlying quantitative estimations can be described by distinct cognitive models. These models of estimation can be broadly classified by the underlying processes they assume into rule-based models and more implicit, similaritybased models (
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 2011
Previous research reported conflicting results concerning the influence of depression on cognitiv... more Previous research reported conflicting results concerning the influence of depression on cognitive task performance. Whereas some studies reported that depression enhances performance, other studies reported negative or null effects. These discrepant findings appear to result from task variation, as well as the severity and treatment status of participant depression. To better understand these moderating factors, we study the performance of individuals-in a complex sequential decision task similar to the secretary problem-who are nondepressed, depressed, and recovering from a major depressive episode. We find that depressed individuals perform better than do nondepressed individuals. Formal modeling of participants' decision strategies suggested that acutely depressed participants had higher thresholds for accepting options and made better choices than either healthy participants or those recovering from depression.
Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie), 2014
Judging other people is a common and important task. Every day professionals make decisions that ... more Judging other people is a common and important task. Every day professionals make decisions that affect the lives of other people when they diagnose medical conditions, grant parole, or hire new employees. To prevent discrimination, professional standards require that decision makers render accurate and unbiased judgments solely based on relevant information. Facial similarity to previously encountered persons can be a potential source of bias. Psychological research suggests that people only rely on similarity-based judgment strategies if the provided information does not allow them to make accurate rule-based judgments. Our study shows, however, that facial similarity to previously encountered persons influences judgment even in situations in which relevant information is available for making accurate rulebased judgments and where similarity is irrelevant for the task and relying on similarity is detrimental. In two experiments in an employment context we show that applicants who looked similar to high-performing former employees were judged as more suitable than applicants who looked similar to low-performing former employees. This similarity effect was found despite the fact that the participants used the relevant rØsumØ information about the applicants by following a rule-based judgment strategy. These findings suggest that similarity-based and rulebased processes simultaneously underlie human judgment.
Developmental Psychology, 2010
The authors investigated the ability of 9- to 11-year-olds and of adults to use similarity-based ... more The authors investigated the ability of 9- to 11-year-olds and of adults to use similarity-based and rule-based processes as a function of task characteristics in a task that can be considered either a categorization task or a multiple-cue judgment task, depending on the nature of the criterion (binary vs. continuous). Both children and adults relied on similarity-based processes in the categorization task. However, adults relied on cue abstraction in the multiple-cue judgment task, whereas the majority of children continued to rely on similarity-based processes. Reliance on cue abstraction resulted in better judgments for adults but not for children in the multiple-cue judgment task. This suggests that 9- to 11-year-olds may have defaulted to similarity-based processes because they were not able to employ a cue abstraction process efficiently.
Acta Psychologica, 2013
Knowledge about cue polarity (i.e., the sign of a cue-criterion relation) seems to boost performa... more Knowledge about cue polarity (i.e., the sign of a cue-criterion relation) seems to boost performance in a wide range of inference tasks. Knowledge about cue polarity information may enhance performance by increasing (1) the reliance on rule-relative to similarity-based strategies, and (2) explicit knowledge about the relative importance of cues. We investigated the relative contribution of these two mechanisms in a multiple-cue judgment task and a categorization task, which typically differ in the inference strategies they elicit and potentially the explicit task knowledge available to participants. In both tasks participants preferred rulebased relative to similarity-based strategies and had more knowledge about cue importance when cue polarity information was provided. Strategy selection was not related to increases in performance in the categorization task and could only partly explain increases in performance in the judgment task. In contrast, explicit knowledge about the importance of cues was related to better performance in both categorization and judgment independently of the strategy used.
Motivation and Emotion, 2008
Numerous studies examined the role of processing effort in judgments using the ''ease-of-processi... more Numerous studies examined the role of processing effort in judgments using the ''ease-of-processing'' paradigm in which participants generate or retrieve few or many issue-relevant thoughts. Because earlier studies only assessed the subjective effort, it is unclear if this paradigm also mobilizes objective effort, and how such effort relates to subjective effort. These questions were addressed in two experiments modeled on standard tasks from the processing effort literature: ''ease of argument generation'' (Study 1) and ''ease of retrieval'' (Study 2). In both experiments we simultaneously measured subjective effort (via self-report) and objective effort (via cardiovascular reactivity). The results showed that processing ease manipulations (generation or retrieval of few vs. many exemplars) influence not only subjective effort, but also objective effort, as reflected especially by increases of systolic blood pressure in the many exemplars condition. However, only subjective effort was related to judgment. In the discussion, we consider the role of various forms of effort and other relevant variables in ''processing ease'' effects.
PLoS ONE, 2013
In the animal kingdom, camouflage refers to patterns that help potential prey avoid detection. Mo... more In the animal kingdom, camouflage refers to patterns that help potential prey avoid detection. Mostly camouflage is thought of as helping prey blend in with their background. In contrast, disruptive or dazzle patterns protect moving targets and have been suggested as an evolutionary force in shaping the dorsal patterns of animals. Dazzle patterns, such as stripes and zigzags, are thought to reduce the probability with which moving prey will be captured by impairing predators' perception of speed. We investigated how different patterns of stripes (longitudinal-i.e., parallel to movement directionand vertical-i.e., perpendicular to movement direction) affect the probability with which humans can hit moving objects and if differences in hitting probability are caused by a misperception of speed. A first experiment showed that longitudinally striped objects were hit more often than unicolored objects. However, vertically striped objects did not differ from unicolored objects. A second study examining the link between perceived speed and hitting probability showed that longitudinally and vertically striped objects were both perceived as moving faster and were hit more often than unicolored objects. In sum, our results provide evidence that striped patterns disrupt the perception of speed, which in turn influences how often objects are hit. However, the magnitude and the direction of the effects depend on additional factors such as speed and the task setup.
Journal of Economic Psychology, 2015
ABSTRACT Consumers’ purchase decisions depend on whether a product is perceived as a bargain or a... more ABSTRACT Consumers’ purchase decisions depend on whether a product is perceived as a bargain or as overpriced. But how do consumers evaluate sales prices? The standard approach in economics, psychology, and marketing suggests that consumers’ estimates are best described by a attribute-based or piecemeal strategy that integrates information about products in a linear additive fashion. Here, we outline and test an alternative theoretical approach from the categorization literature suggesting that consumers sometimes follow an exemplar-based strategy that relies on similarity to previously encountered products. We hypothesize that people switch between these two estimation strategies depending on the context they face. To test this hypothesis, we conducted an experiment in which 64 participants repeatedly estimated the market price of different consumer products (bottles of wine). In one condition, the product prices could be well approximated with an attribute-based strategy whereas in the other condition an exemplar-based strategy worked best. Results of a subsequent testing phase indicated that participants switched between strategies depending on the structure of the presented sets. These results show that people rely on different strategies to estimate market prices, which should influence people’s consumption behavior. The results suggest that theories on categorization learning can provide a deeper insight into behavior in an economic context and allow predicting consumer behavior more accurately.
Topics in cognitive science, Jan 27, 2015
Search is a prerequisite for successful performance in a broad range of tasks ranging from making... more Search is a prerequisite for successful performance in a broad range of tasks ranging from making decisions between consumer goods to memory retrieval. How does aging impact search processes in such disparate situations? Aging is associated with structural and neuromodulatory brain changes that underlie cognitive control processes, which in turn have been proposed as a domain-general mechanism controlling search in external environments as well as memory. We review the aging literature to evaluate the cognitive control hypothesis that suggests that age-related change in cognitive control underlies age differences in both external and internal search. We also consider the limits of the cognitive control hypothesis and propose additional mechanisms such as changes in strategy use and affect that may be necessary to understand how aging affects search.
Cognition, 2015
Recent research suggests that when people retrieve information from memory they tend to fixate on... more Recent research suggests that when people retrieve information from memory they tend to fixate on the location where the information had appeared during encoding. We used this phenomenon to investigate if different information is activated in memory when people use a rule- versus a similarity-based decision strategy. In two studies, participants first memorized multiple pieces of information about various job candidates (exemplars). In subsequent test trials they judged the suitability of new candidates that varied in their similarity to the previously learned exemplars. Results show that when using similarity, but not when using a rule, participants fixated longer on the previous location of exemplars that resembled the new candidates than on the location of dissimilar exemplars. This suggests that people using similarity retrieve previously learned exemplars, whereas people using a rule do not. The study illustrates that eye movements can provide new insights into the memory proce...
Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2014
Making accurate judgments is a core human competence and a prerequisite for success in many areas... more Making accurate judgments is a core human competence and a prerequisite for success in many areas of life. Plenty of evidence exists that people can employ different judgment strategies to solve identical judgment problems. In categorization, it has been demonstrated that similarity-based and rule-based strategies are associated with activity in different brain regions. Building on this research, the present work tests whether solving two identical judgment problems recruits different neural substrates depending on people's judgment strategies. Combining cognitive modeling of judgment strategies at the behavioral level with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we compare brain activity when using two archetypal judgment strategies: a similarity-based exemplar strategy and a rule-based heuristic strategy. Using an exemplar-based strategy should recruit areas involved in long-term memory processes to a larger extent than a heuristic strategy. In contrast, using a heuristi...
Journal of experimental psychology. General, 2014
Making accurate judgments is an essential skill in everyday life. Although how different memory a... more Making accurate judgments is an essential skill in everyday life. Although how different memory abilities relate to categorization and judgment processes has been hotly debated, the question is far from resolved. We contribute to the solution by investigating how individual differences in memory abilities affect judgment performance in 2 tasks that induced rule-based or exemplar-based judgment strategies. In a study with 279 participants, we investigated how working memory and episodic memory affect judgment accuracy and strategy use. As predicted, participants switched strategies between tasks. Furthermore, structural equation modeling showed that the ability to solve rule-based tasks was predicted by working memory, whereas episodic memory predicted judgment accuracy in the exemplar-based task. Last, the probability of choosing an exemplar-based strategy was related to better episodic memory, but strategy selection was unrelated to working memory capacity. In sum, our results sugg...
Journal of Experimental Psychology-General, 2008
How do people make quantitative estimations, such as estimating a car's selling price? Traditiona... more How do people make quantitative estimations, such as estimating a car's selling price? Traditionally, linear-regression-type models have been used to answer this question. These models assume that people weight and integrate all information available to estimate a criterion. The authors propose an alternative cognitive theory for quantitative estimation. The mapping model, inspired by the work of N. R. Brown and R. S. Siegler (1993) on metrics and mappings, offers a heuristic approach to decision making. The authors test this model against established alternative models of estimation, namely, linear regression, an exemplar model, and a simple estimation heuristic. With 4 experimental studies the authors compare the models under different environmental conditions. The mapping model proves to be a valid model to predict people's estimates.
Psychology and Aging, 2012
Motivation and Emotion, 2008
Numerous studies examined the role of processing effort in judgments using the ''ease-of-processi... more Numerous studies examined the role of processing effort in judgments using the ''ease-of-processing'' paradigm in which participants generate or retrieve few or many issue-relevant thoughts. Because earlier studies only assessed the subjective effort, it is unclear if this paradigm also mobilizes objective effort, and how such effort relates to subjective effort. These questions were addressed in two experiments modeled on standard tasks from the processing effort literature: ''ease of argument generation'' (Study 1) and ''ease of retrieval'' (Study 2). In both experiments we simultaneously measured subjective effort (via self-report) and objective effort (via cardiovascular reactivity). The results showed that processing ease manipulations (generation or retrieval of few vs. many exemplars) influence not only subjective effort, but also objective effort, as reflected especially by increases of systolic blood pressure in the many exemplars condition. However, only subjective effort was related to judgment. In the discussion, we consider the role of various forms of effort and other relevant variables in ''processing ease'' effects.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 2009
The cognitive processes underlying quantitative estimations vary. Past research has identified ta... more The cognitive processes underlying quantitative estimations vary. Past research has identified taskcontingent changes between rule-based and exemplar-based processes (P. Juslin, L. H. Olsson, 2008). B. von Helversen and, however, proposed a simple rule-based model-the mapping model-that outperformed the exemplar model in a task thought to promote exemplar-based processing. This raised questions about the assumptions of rule-based versus exemplarbased models that underlie the notion of task contingency of cognitive processes. Rule-based models, such as the mapping model, assume the abstraction of explicit task knowledge. In contrast, exemplar models should profit if storage and activation of the exemplars is facilitated. Two studies tested the importance of the two models' assumptions. When knowledge about cues existed, the rule-based mapping model predicted quantitative estimations best. In contrast, when knowledge about the cues was difficult to gain, participants' estimations were best described by an exemplar model. The results emphasize the task contingency of cognitive processes. ), we assume that the cognitive processes underlying quantitative estimations can be described by distinct cognitive models. These models of estimation can be broadly classified by the underlying processes they assume into rule-based models and more implicit, similaritybased models (
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 2011
Previous research reported conflicting results concerning the influence of depression on cognitiv... more Previous research reported conflicting results concerning the influence of depression on cognitive task performance. Whereas some studies reported that depression enhances performance, other studies reported negative or null effects. These discrepant findings appear to result from task variation, as well as the severity and treatment status of participant depression. To better understand these moderating factors, we study the performance of individuals-in a complex sequential decision task similar to the secretary problem-who are nondepressed, depressed, and recovering from a major depressive episode. We find that depressed individuals perform better than do nondepressed individuals. Formal modeling of participants' decision strategies suggested that acutely depressed participants had higher thresholds for accepting options and made better choices than either healthy participants or those recovering from depression.
Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie), 2014
Judging other people is a common and important task. Every day professionals make decisions that ... more Judging other people is a common and important task. Every day professionals make decisions that affect the lives of other people when they diagnose medical conditions, grant parole, or hire new employees. To prevent discrimination, professional standards require that decision makers render accurate and unbiased judgments solely based on relevant information. Facial similarity to previously encountered persons can be a potential source of bias. Psychological research suggests that people only rely on similarity-based judgment strategies if the provided information does not allow them to make accurate rule-based judgments. Our study shows, however, that facial similarity to previously encountered persons influences judgment even in situations in which relevant information is available for making accurate rulebased judgments and where similarity is irrelevant for the task and relying on similarity is detrimental. In two experiments in an employment context we show that applicants who looked similar to high-performing former employees were judged as more suitable than applicants who looked similar to low-performing former employees. This similarity effect was found despite the fact that the participants used the relevant rØsumØ information about the applicants by following a rule-based judgment strategy. These findings suggest that similarity-based and rulebased processes simultaneously underlie human judgment.
Developmental Psychology, 2010
The authors investigated the ability of 9- to 11-year-olds and of adults to use similarity-based ... more The authors investigated the ability of 9- to 11-year-olds and of adults to use similarity-based and rule-based processes as a function of task characteristics in a task that can be considered either a categorization task or a multiple-cue judgment task, depending on the nature of the criterion (binary vs. continuous). Both children and adults relied on similarity-based processes in the categorization task. However, adults relied on cue abstraction in the multiple-cue judgment task, whereas the majority of children continued to rely on similarity-based processes. Reliance on cue abstraction resulted in better judgments for adults but not for children in the multiple-cue judgment task. This suggests that 9- to 11-year-olds may have defaulted to similarity-based processes because they were not able to employ a cue abstraction process efficiently.
Acta Psychologica, 2013
Knowledge about cue polarity (i.e., the sign of a cue-criterion relation) seems to boost performa... more Knowledge about cue polarity (i.e., the sign of a cue-criterion relation) seems to boost performance in a wide range of inference tasks. Knowledge about cue polarity information may enhance performance by increasing (1) the reliance on rule-relative to similarity-based strategies, and (2) explicit knowledge about the relative importance of cues. We investigated the relative contribution of these two mechanisms in a multiple-cue judgment task and a categorization task, which typically differ in the inference strategies they elicit and potentially the explicit task knowledge available to participants. In both tasks participants preferred rulebased relative to similarity-based strategies and had more knowledge about cue importance when cue polarity information was provided. Strategy selection was not related to increases in performance in the categorization task and could only partly explain increases in performance in the judgment task. In contrast, explicit knowledge about the importance of cues was related to better performance in both categorization and judgment independently of the strategy used.