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Mike Oaksford

Publications and source records attributed to Mike Oaksford.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Data selection and natural sampling: probabilities do matter.

Probabilistic accounts of Wason's selection task (Oaksford & Chater, 1994, 1996) are controversial, with some researchers failing to replicate the predicted effects of probability manipulations. This paper reports a single experiment in which participants sampled the data naturally-that is, sequentially. The proportions of possible data types (i.e., cards in the selection task) also reflected the probability manipulation. Other than this procedural difference, the materials were the same as those in Oberauer, Wilhelm, and Rosas-Diaz's (1999) Experiment 3, which failed to show probabilistic effects. Significant probabilistic effects were observed. Moreover, in a comparative model-fitting exercise, a revised version of the information gain model (Hattori, 1999, 2002; Oaksford & Chater, in press-b) was shown to provide better fits to these data than did competing explanations.

Choice Behavior↗
PubMed2003

Optimal data selection: revision, review, and reevaluation.

Since it first appeared, there has been much research and critical discussion on the theory of optimal data selection as an explanation of Wason's (1966,1968) selection task (Oaksford & Chater, 1994). In this paper, this literature is reviewed, and the theory of optimal data selection is reevaluated in its light. The information gain model is first located in the current theoretical debate in the psychology of reasoning concerning dual processes in human reasoning. A model comparison exercise is then presented that compares a revised version of the model with its theoretical competitors. Tests of the novel predictions of the model are then reviewed. This section also reviews experiments claimed not to be consistent with optimal data selection. Finally, theoretical criticisms of optimal data selection are discussed. It is argued either that the revised model accounts for them or that they do not stand up under analysis. It is concluded that some version of the optimal data selection model still provides the best account of the selection task. Consequently, the conclusion of Oaksford and Chater's (1994) original rational analysis (Anderson, 1990), that people's hypothesis-testing behavior on this task is rational and well adapted to the environment, still stands.

Cognition↗
PubMed2002

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Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Some long-term effects of emotion on cognition.

This study explored the long-term effects of emotion on cognition and over a 12-day period. Two divergent tasks were employed: a word association task and a visual learning task. Over the initial 4 days of the study, participants went through a mood-induction procedure then subsequently completed both tasks. Both tasks showed a reduction in reaction time consistent with the power law of learning across the first 4 consecutive days, and there was no significant change in reaction time between day 4 and day 5 (1 week later), suggesting that the change in reaction time was robust. The slopes of the power curves are discussed in relation to attentional and mnemonic systems that may underlie the observed differences in the exponents of the power curves by emotion group.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Relative informativeness of quantifiers used in syllogistic reasoning.

Three experiments tested a possible resolution of the probability heuristics model (PHM) of syllogistic reasoning proposed by Chater and Oaksford (1999), with their experimental results apparently showing that the generalized quantifier few was not as informative as suggested theoretically. Modifying the interpretation of few to take into account the distinction between positive and negative quantifiers (Moxey & Sanford, 1993) indicated two orderings over the quantifiers all, most, few, some, none, and some...not that are more consistent with the results. Experiments 1-3 tested these orderings empirically by having participants rank whether a quantifier applied to a particular probabilistic state of affairs. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that participants agreed on when a quantifier applied and that the empirically derived informativeness orderings were consistent with the proposed modifications of the order. Experiment 3 showed that this finding was robust even when response competition was eliminated.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Human rationality and the psychology of reasoning: Where do we go from here?

British psychologists have been at the forefront of research into human reasoning for 40 years. This article describes some past research milestones within this tradition before outlining the major theoretical positions developed in the UK. Most British reasoning researchers have contributed to one or more of these positions. We identify a common theme that is emerging in all these approaches, that is, the problem of explaining how prior general knowledge affects reasoning. In our concluding comments we outline the challenges for future research posed by this problem.

Journal Article↗