engleski

Meta-reasoning in a modified Cognitive Reflection Test

The Cognitive Reflection Task (CRT) has been used in a large number of studies as a measure of rational thinking. The original version contains three tasks which have a common structure. The tasks are designed to induce heuristic biased thinking which leads to an incorrect response which needs to be overridden in order to provide the correct response. The aim of this study was to expand the CRT to include chronometric and metacognitive measures and determine differences based on task and response type. For this purpose, two important modifications were introduced to the original CRT. First, the number of tasks was increased from three to six. Second, the mode of response was modified for precise chronometric measurement. Participants (N = 32) were presented with the task and four alternatives amongst which one was the correct response, one was based on a heuristic, one was a filler incorrect response and the final alternative was “none of above”. Their task was to respond, as fast as possible, by pressing a key corresponding to their preferred response. After each response, participants gave a metacognitive judgment of confidence on a seven point scale. Participants also completed the Need for Cognition scale (NFC). Results showed that the different tasks within the CRT induce different levels of heuristic biased thinking. Furthermore, response time and confidence judgment analyses also revealed significant differences between the tasks. As expected, tasks with a higher proportion of heuristic responses were accompanied by shorter response times and higher levels of confidence. Finally, participants with higher accuracy in the CRT had significantly higher scores on the NFC scale. We can conclude that this modification, which allowed chronometric and metacognitive measurement, provides more in-depth insight into the CRT.

Cognitive Reflection Task, meta-reasoning, metacognition, Need for Cognition

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