Maggie Gale | University of Derby (original) (raw)

Uploads

Papers by Maggie Gale

Research paper thumbnail of Dual-goal facilitation in Wason's 2–4–6 task: What mediates successful rule discovery

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2006

The standard 2 -4 -6 task requires discovery of a single rule and produces success rates of about... more The standard 2 -4 -6 task requires discovery of a single rule and produces success rates of about 20%, whereas the dual-goal (DG) version requests discovery of two complementary rules and elevates success to over 60%. The experiment examined two explanations of DG superiority: Evans' (1989) positivity-bias account, and Wharton, Cheng, and Wickens' (1993) goal-complementarity theory. Two DG conditions were employed that varied the linguistic labelling of rules (either positively labelled Dax vs. Med, or mixed-valence "fits" vs. "does not fit"). Solution-success results supported the goal-complementarity theory since facilitation arose in both DG conditions relative to singlegoal tasks, irrespective of the linguistic labelling of hypotheses. DG instructions also altered quantitative and qualitative aspects of hypothesis-testing behaviour, and analyses revealed the novel result that the production of at least a single descending triple mediates between DG instructions and task success. We propose that the identification of an appropriate contrast class that delimits the scope of complementary rules may be facilitated through the generation of a descending instance. Overall, our findings can best be accommodated by iterative counterfactual model of hypotheses testing, which can readily subsume key elements of the goalcomplementarity theory.

Research paper thumbnail of Does Positivity Bias Explain Patterns of Performance on Wason's 2-4-6 Task

... and Wharton, Cheng and Wickens' (1993) goal complementarity theory. The experiment indep... more ... and Wharton, Cheng and Wickens' (1993) goal complementarity theory. The experiment independently manipulated the number of goals that participants had to explore (a single goal vs. two complementary goals) and the linguistic labels used to provide feedback (DAX and ...

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring the determinants of dual goal facilitation in a rule discovery task

Thinking & Reasoning, 2009

Wason's standard 2-4-6 task requires discovery of a single rule and lead... more Wason's standard 2-4-6 task requires discovery of a single rule and leads to around 20% solutions, whereas the dual goal (DG) version requires discovery of two rules and elevates solutions to over 60%. We report an experiment that aimed to discriminate between competing accounts of DG facilitation by manipulating the degree of complementarity between the to-be-discovered rules. Results indicated that

Research paper thumbnail of Facilitated Rule Discovery in Wason’s 2-4-6 Task: The Role of Negative Triples

One key paradigm that has been used to investigate hypothesis-testing behaviour is 2-4-6 task. Th... more One key paradigm that has been used to investigate hypothesis-testing behaviour is 2-4-6 task. This exists in two main forms: The standard version requires participants to induce a single rule, whilst the logically identical Dual Goal (DG) version, introduced by Tweney et al. (1980), asks participants to discover two related rules. In the standard version success rates of 20% are typically reported, whereas DG instructions increase solution rates to over 60%. One hypothesized explanation for this facilitated effect is the Goal Complementarity Theory , which proposes that facilitated performance is mainly attributable to the complementary nature of the two unknown rules in the DG task. The present study investigated this theory by manipulating the to-bediscovered rules in order to produce both complementary and non-complementary DG versions of the task. Results did not lend support to the Goal Complementarity Theory. However, a close analysis of the triples generated by participants led to the formation of a new account of the facilitatory effect of DG instructions that centred on the role played by negative triples (and especially descending ones) in promoting task success.

Research paper thumbnail of Dual-goal facilitation in Wason's 2–4–6 task: What mediates successful rule discovery

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2006

The standard 2 -4 -6 task requires discovery of a single rule and produces success rates of about... more The standard 2 -4 -6 task requires discovery of a single rule and produces success rates of about 20%, whereas the dual-goal (DG) version requests discovery of two complementary rules and elevates success to over 60%. The experiment examined two explanations of DG superiority: Evans' (1989) positivity-bias account, and Wharton, Cheng, and Wickens' (1993) goal-complementarity theory. Two DG conditions were employed that varied the linguistic labelling of rules (either positively labelled Dax vs. Med, or mixed-valence "fits" vs. "does not fit"). Solution-success results supported the goal-complementarity theory since facilitation arose in both DG conditions relative to singlegoal tasks, irrespective of the linguistic labelling of hypotheses. DG instructions also altered quantitative and qualitative aspects of hypothesis-testing behaviour, and analyses revealed the novel result that the production of at least a single descending triple mediates between DG instructions and task success. We propose that the identification of an appropriate contrast class that delimits the scope of complementary rules may be facilitated through the generation of a descending instance. Overall, our findings can best be accommodated by iterative counterfactual model of hypotheses testing, which can readily subsume key elements of the goalcomplementarity theory.

Research paper thumbnail of Does Positivity Bias Explain Patterns of Performance on Wason's 2-4-6 Task

... and Wharton, Cheng and Wickens' (1993) goal complementarity theory. The experiment indep... more ... and Wharton, Cheng and Wickens' (1993) goal complementarity theory. The experiment independently manipulated the number of goals that participants had to explore (a single goal vs. two complementary goals) and the linguistic labels used to provide feedback (DAX and ...

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring the determinants of dual goal facilitation in a rule discovery task

Thinking & Reasoning, 2009

Wason's standard 2-4-6 task requires discovery of a single rule and lead... more Wason's standard 2-4-6 task requires discovery of a single rule and leads to around 20% solutions, whereas the dual goal (DG) version requires discovery of two rules and elevates solutions to over 60%. We report an experiment that aimed to discriminate between competing accounts of DG facilitation by manipulating the degree of complementarity between the to-be-discovered rules. Results indicated that

Research paper thumbnail of Facilitated Rule Discovery in Wason’s 2-4-6 Task: The Role of Negative Triples

One key paradigm that has been used to investigate hypothesis-testing behaviour is 2-4-6 task. Th... more One key paradigm that has been used to investigate hypothesis-testing behaviour is 2-4-6 task. This exists in two main forms: The standard version requires participants to induce a single rule, whilst the logically identical Dual Goal (DG) version, introduced by Tweney et al. (1980), asks participants to discover two related rules. In the standard version success rates of 20% are typically reported, whereas DG instructions increase solution rates to over 60%. One hypothesized explanation for this facilitated effect is the Goal Complementarity Theory , which proposes that facilitated performance is mainly attributable to the complementary nature of the two unknown rules in the DG task. The present study investigated this theory by manipulating the to-bediscovered rules in order to produce both complementary and non-complementary DG versions of the task. Results did not lend support to the Goal Complementarity Theory. However, a close analysis of the triples generated by participants led to the formation of a new account of the facilitatory effect of DG instructions that centred on the role played by negative triples (and especially descending ones) in promoting task success.

Log In