Commentary: Rethinking fast and slow based on a critique of reaction-time reverse inference

Frontiers in Psychology

Gordon Pennycook¹ 

关键词: dual process theories;    response time;    reaction time;    reasoning;    decision making;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01174

学科分类：心理学（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

An increasingly common claim among cognitive psychologists is that the human mind is capable of two fundamentally different types of processes (Evans and Stanovich, 2013): Type 1 processing that is triggered autonomously by a stimulus and Type 2 processing that operates on a deliberate level via working memory and that allows for decoupling or override from default (Type 1) outputs. An article recently published in Nature Communications by Krajbich et al. (2015; hereafter, KBHF) focused on the use of response time (RT) differences as evidence for these dual-process theories (hereafter, DPT). KBHF outline how some dual-process theorists argue that if RTs are shorter for some response (“A”) than some other response (“B”), then this supports a DPT wherein Response A is intuitive and Response B is deliberative. Then, using economic games and intertemporal choice as examples, KBHF go on to argue that these RT differences can be better accounted for by sequential sampling models (SSM). Specifically, they argue that RT should increase when participants are presented options that are hard to discriminate (e.g., between two equally preferential choices). Thus, SSMs highlight the importance of conflict between choices as an explanation for RT differences. KBHF conclude by strongly cautioning against the use of RT differences to support DPTs.

【 授权许可】

CC BY