Revisiting the effect of incentivization on cognitive reflection: A meta-analysis

The effect of performance-based incentives on judgment biases is a controversial issue. A recent extensive meta-analysis of Brañas-Garza et al. (2019, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2019.101455 ) found no effect of incentives on performance in the cognitive reflection test (CRT), a test commonly used for assessing heuristic versus deliberative judgments. We conducted a meta-analysis of studies that directly compared an incentive versus no-incentive conditions (n = 2836) and found a small positive effect of incentivization (Cohen's d = .21) on CRT performance. In addition, we re-examined the Brañas-Garza et al. (2019) dataset (n = 39,385), taking into consideration not only whether incentivization was used but also the nominal and fiscal size of the incentive. The results show that surprisingly when including only studies that used monetary incentives, the effect of incentivization and incentive size are significant, even when taking into consideration other aspects of the studies. The results thus suggest a small but robust effect of incentives on judgment biases.     

Dissecting the expanded cognitive reflection test: an item response theory analysis

This study presents a psychometric evaluation of the Expanded Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT7) based on item response theory. The participants (N?=?1204) completed the CRT7 and provided self-reported information about their cognitive styles through the Preference for Intuition and Deliberation Scale (PID). A two-parameter logistic model was fitted to the data to obtain the item difficulty and discrimination parameters of the CRT7. The results showed that the items had good discriminatory power (αs?=?.80 ? 2.92), but the range of difficulty was restricted (βs ranged from ?.60 to .32). Moreover, the CRT7 showed a pattern of correlations with the PID which was similar to that of the original CRT. When taken together, these results are evidence of the adequacy of the CRT7 as an expanded tool for measuring cognitive reflection; however, one of the newer items (the pig item) was consistently problematic across analyses, and so it is recommended that in future studies it should be removed from the CRT7.     

Assessing the validity of inferences from scores on the cognitive reflection test

Decision‐making researchers purport that a novel cognitive ability construct, cognitive reflection, explains variance in intuitive thinking processes that traditional mental ability constructs do not. However, researchers have questioned the validity of the primary measure because of poor construct conceptualization and lack of validity studies. Prior studies have not adequately aligned the analytical techniques with the theoretical basis of the construct, dual‐processing theory of reasoning. The present study assessed the validity of inferences drawn from the cognitive reflection test (CRT) scores. We analyzed response processes with an item response tree model, a method that aligns with the dual‐processing theory in order to interpret CRT scores. Findings indicate that the intuitive and reflective factors that the test purportedly measures were indistinguishable. Exploratory, post hoc analyses demonstrate that CRT scores are most likely capturing mental abilities. We suggest that future researchers recognize and distinguish between individual differences in cognitive abilities and cognitive processes.     

Two short-term,cognitive interventions for the reduction of test anxiety

Abstract

Relative efficacy of Attentional Skills Training and Systematic Rational Restructuring as short-term (50 minutes each), cognitive interventions was determined on a sample of ninth-grade girls from India. Only Attentional Skills Training and not Systematic Rational Restructuring has been found to be effective for high test-anxious girls (regardless of intelligence), not only in the reduction of state test anxiety and its worry state component, but also in the reduction of anxiety interference and in the improvement of the estimated percent time spent on task. However, neither of the interventions improved the performance on the two difficult experimental tasks when compared to controls.     

Test anxiety: contributions of gender,age, parent's occupation and self-esteem among secondary school students in Nigeria

Most of the previous studies on test anxiety have focused on students in higher institutions with little research on test anxiety in secondary school students. The present study examined the contributions of gender, age, parent's occupation and self-esteem on test anxiety among secondary school students. Participants were 281 students (males?=?156, females?=?125; mean age?=?17.05, SD?=?1.87) who were candidates for centralised, high-stakes examinations in two randomly selected secondary schools in Onitsha, Anambra state, Nigeria. Data were collected using questionnaires comprising the State Self-esteem Scale, the Test Anxiety Inventory and spaces for the provision of relevant socio-demographic information. Results of a hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that age and gender did not significantly contribute to test anxiety. Parent's occupation explained 2% of the variance in test anxiety and self-esteem contributed 10% in explaining test anxiety. Based on the findings, personal predispositions explain test anxiety among school students more than do their demographics.     

Associations of transcranial doppler velocity,age, and gender with cognitive function in children with sickle cell anemia in Nigeria

Children with sickle cell anemia (SCA) have elevated cerebral blood velocity relative to healthy peers. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the association between cerebral blood velocity, measured by transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound, age, and gender with cognitive function in children with SCA in Nigeria. Eighty-three children (M_age = 9.10, SD = 1.90 years; 55% female) with SCA in Nigeria completed cognitive assessments and a TCD ultrasound. The association between TCD velocity and measures of perceptual reasoning (Raven’s Progressive Matrices), working memory (WISC-IV Digit Span), and executive planning (Tower of London, TOL) were assessed. Results showed that elevated TCD velocity significantly predicted lower scores on TOL Time Violations and Total Problem-Solving Time when controlling for BMI, hemoglobin level, and parent education, suggesting that TCD velocity is related to the efficiency of executive function. Further, age was negatively related to children’s performance on the Ravens Matrices and TOL Total Correct, and boys showed greater deficits on the TOL Total Correct relative to girls. Moderation analyses for gender showed that there was a conditional negative association between TCD velocity and Digit Span for boys, but not for girls. Findings suggest that children with SCA in Nigeria with elevated TCD velocity are at risk for deficits in efficiency of executive planning, and boys with elevated TCD velocity are particularly at increased risk for deficits in auditory working memory. Implications of this study are important for interventions to reduce cerebral blood velocity and the use of TCD in this population.     

The cognitive reflection test revisited: exploring the ways individuals solve the test

Individuals’ propensity not to override the first answer that comes to mind is thought to be a crucial cause behind many failures in reasoning. In the present study, we aimed to explore the strategies used and the abilities employed when individuals solve the cognitive reflection test (CRT), the most widely used measure of this tendency. Alongside individual differences measures, protocol analysis was employed to unfold the steps of the reasoning process in solving the CRT. This exploration revealed that there are several ways people solve or fail the test. Importantly, 77% of the cases in which reasoners gave the correct final answer in our protocol analysis, they started their response with the correct answer or with a line of thought which led to the correct answer. We also found that 39% of the incorrect responders reflected on their first response. The findings indicate that the suppression of the first answer may not be the only crucial feature of reflectivity in the CRT and that the lack of relevant knowledge is a prominent cause of the reasoning errors. Additionally, we confirmed that the CRT is a multi-faceted construct: both numeracy and reflectivity account for performance. The results can help to better apprehend the “whys and whens” of the decision errors in heuristics and biases tasks and to further refine existing explanatory models.     

Rigidity and flexibility of gender stereotypes in childhood: developmental or differential?

Previous research has shown that the early learning of male–female categories is characterized by rigid beliefs about stereotypic differences, but that once gender knowledge is well established, the beliefs become more flexible. Because most studies are cross‐sectional, it is not known if the early rigidity represents a normative transitional developmental stage that passes, or if early individual differences in rigidity continue into later childhood. To answer that question, analyses were performed on longitudinal data of 64 children who had been questioned about their gender concepts yearly from ages 5 to 10 years. Supporting a cognitive‐developmental approach, the findings showed that the period of rigidity was short‐lived whether rigidity began early or late or whether the level of peak rigidity was high or low. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

One test,five scoring procedures: different ways of approaching the cognitive reflection test

Although the cognitive reflection test (CRT) represents a frequently used instrument within the field of judgement and decision-making, its scope and detailed characteristics are still not well understood. Therefore, the present article discusses 5 different ways of scoring the CRT that include the regular CRT scoring procedure (CRT-Regular), adding up the intuitive answers (CRT-Intuitive), calculating the proportion of intuitive in total incorrect answers (CRT-Proportion Intuitive), scoring only non-intuitive answers irrespective of their correctness (CRT-Reflection) and calculating the proportion of correct in total non-intuitive answers (CRT-Calculation). We conducted 2 studies aimed at investigating the associations among these scoring techniques and their relationships with thinking dispositions, specifically the need for cognition, faith in intuition, superstitious thinking, maximising and post-choice regret. The results indicate that thinking dispositions play a modest role in explaining the performance on the CRT. The specific associations among the investigated dispositions and different CRT scoring techniques are discussed.     

The functional‐cognitive framework as a tool for accelerating progress in cognitive neuroscience: On the benefits of bridging rather than reducing levels of analyses

The subject matter of neuroscience research is complex, and synthesising the wealth of data from this research to better understand mental processes is challenging. A useful strategy, therefore, may be to distinguish explicitly between the causal effects of the environment on behaviour (i.e. functional analyses) and the mental processes that mediate these effects (i.e. cognitive analyses). In this article, we describe how the functional‐cognitive (F‐C) framework can accelerate cognitive neuroscience and also advance a functional treatment of brain activity. We first highlight that cognitive neuroscience can particularly benefit from the F‐C approach by providing an alternative to the problematic practice of reducing cognitive constructs to behavioural and/or neural proxies. Next, we outline how functional (behaviour–environment) relations can serve as a bridge between cognitive and neural processes by restoring mental constructs to their original role as heuristic tools. Finally, we give some examples of how both cognitive neuroscience and traditional functional approaches can mutually benefit from the F‐C framework.     

The ABCs of depression: integrating affective, biological, and cognitive models to explain the emergence of the gender difference in depression

In adulthood, twice as many women as men are depressed, a pattern that holds in most nations. In childhood, girls are no more depressed than boys, but more girls than boys are depressed by ages 13 to 15. Although many influences on this emergent gender difference in depression have been proposed, a truly integrated, developmental model is lacking. The authors propose a model that integrates affective (emotional reactivity), biological (genetic vulnerability, pubertal hormones, pubertal timing and development) and cognitive (cognitive style, objectified body consciousness, rumination) factors as vulnerabilities to depression that, in interaction with negative life events, heighten girls' rates of depression beginning in adolescence and account for the gender difference in depression.     

Anxiety sensitivity cognitive concerns drive the relation between anxiety sensitivity and symptoms of depression

Depression is typically treated as a homogeneous construct despite evidence for distinct cognitive, affective, and somatic symptom dimensions. Anxiety sensitivity (AS; the fear of consequences of anxiety symptoms) is a cognitive risk factor implicated in the development of depressive symptoms. However, it is unclear how lower order AS dimensions (i.e. physical, cognitive, and social concerns) relate to depressive symptom factors. Confirmatory factor analysis, followed by structural equation modeling, were conducted to examine the factor structure of depression and to then examine the relations between these factors and the lower order factors of AS. This study was conducted in a sample of 374 adults (M age = 35.5, 54.3% female) with elevated levels of psychopathology (89.2% meeting criteria for at least one DSM-5 diagnosis, 25.6% primary depressive disorder). In this study a two-factor model of depression, composed of Cognitive and Affective/Somatic factors, was superior to one- and three-factor solutions. AS cognitive concerns were related to both cognitive and affective/somatic symptoms of depression. Neither of the other AS dimensions was related to depression symptom dimensions. These findings provide a better understanding of the relations between AS and depression symptoms.     

Relations between episodic memory, suggestibility, theory of mind, and cognitive inhibition in the preschool child

The development of episodic memory, its relation to theory of mind (ToM), executive functions (e.g., cognitive inhibition), and to suggestibility was studied. Children (n= 115) between 3 and 6 years of age saw two versions of a video film and were tested for their memory of critical elements of the videos. Results indicated similar developmental trends for all memory measures, ToM, and inhibition, but ToM and inhibition were not associated with any memory measures. Correlations involving source memory was found in relation to specific questions, whereas inhibition and ToM were significantly correlated to resistance to suggestions. A regression analysis showed that age was the main contributor to resistance to suggestions, to correct source monitoring, and to correct responses to specific questions. Inhibition was also a significant main predictor of resistance to suggestive questions, whereas the relative contribution of ToM was wiped out when an extended model was tested.