Heuristics and biases in the mental manipulation of magnitudes
- There is a debate about whether and why we overestimate addition and underestimate subtraction results (Operational Momentum or OM effect). Spatial-attentional accounts of OM compete with a model which postulates that OM reflects a weighted combination of multiple arithmetic heuristics and biases (AHAB). This study addressed this debate with the theoretically diagnostic distinction between zero problems (e.g., 3 + 0, 3 - 0) and non-zero problems (e.g., 2 + 1, 4 - 1) because AHAB, in contrast to all other accounts, uniquely predicts reverse OM for the latter problem type. In two tests (line-length production and time production), participants indeed produced shorter lines and under-estimated time intervals in non-zero additions compared with subtractions. This predicted interaction between operation and problem type extends OM to non-spatial magnitudes and highlights the strength of AHAB regarding different problem types and modalities during the mental manipulation of magnitudes. They also suggest that OM reflects methodologicalThere is a debate about whether and why we overestimate addition and underestimate subtraction results (Operational Momentum or OM effect). Spatial-attentional accounts of OM compete with a model which postulates that OM reflects a weighted combination of multiple arithmetic heuristics and biases (AHAB). This study addressed this debate with the theoretically diagnostic distinction between zero problems (e.g., 3 + 0, 3 - 0) and non-zero problems (e.g., 2 + 1, 4 - 1) because AHAB, in contrast to all other accounts, uniquely predicts reverse OM for the latter problem type. In two tests (line-length production and time production), participants indeed produced shorter lines and under-estimated time intervals in non-zero additions compared with subtractions. This predicted interaction between operation and problem type extends OM to non-spatial magnitudes and highlights the strength of AHAB regarding different problem types and modalities during the mental manipulation of magnitudes. They also suggest that OM reflects methodological details, whereas reverse OM is the more representative behavioural signature of mental arithmetic.…
Author details: | Giovanna MioniORCiD, Martin H. FischerORCiDGND, Samuel ShakiORCiD |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1177/1747021820967663 |
ISSN: | 1747-0218 |
ISSN: | 1747-0226 |
Pubmed ID: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33063598 |
Title of parent work (English): | Quarterly journal of experimental psychology / published in association with Experimental Psychology Society |
Subtitle (English): | Evidence from length and time production |
Publisher: | SAGE Publishing |
Place of publishing: | Thousand Oaks, CA |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2021/03/01 |
Publication year: | 2021 |
Release date: | 2024/03/07 |
Tag: | Heuristics and biases; SNARC; effect; mental arithmetic; operational momentum |
Volume: | 74 |
Issue: | 3 |
Number of pages: | 12 |
First page: | 536 |
Last Page: | 547 |
Funding institution: | Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftGerman Research Foundation (DFG) [FI_1915/8-1] |
Organizational units: | Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Strukturbereich Kognitionswissenschaften / Department Psychologie |
DDC classification: | 1 Philosophie und Psychologie / 15 Psychologie / 150 Psychologie |
Peer review: | Referiert |