Substitution Heuristic on Proportional Tasks

Michelle Hurst, PhD

Status: Invitation-only

Conditions: Substitution Heuristic; Proportional Reasoning

Treatments: Behavioral: Additional Incentive; Behavioral: Response Delay; Behavioral: Baseline Performance

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT06762366

Pro2024002168

R00HD104990 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this clinical trial is to test whether or not adults use a substitution heuristic when reasoning about proportions. The main question it aims to answer is:

Do adults use a substitution heuristic when judging non-symbolic proportions, leading them to answer an easier, yet incorrect question?

Researchers will compare performance at baseline with one of two conditions in order to see if forced behavioral changes can change performance on the task.

Participants will be asked to compare two images and judge which has the higher proportion of the target color. Each participant will also be assigned to one of two condition where they either receive a further incentive for correct selections or are required to use more time when making their calculations.

Enrollment: 220 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 64 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Typically developing people within the target age range

Exclusion criteria

• Individuals with known developmental or cognitive disorders
• Participants must speak/read sufficient English to read and complete the informed consent document

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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220 participants in 3 patient groups

Additional Incentive

Active Comparator group

Description:

In this arm of the experiment, participants will receive the additional incentive intervention.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Additional Incentive

Response Delay

Active Comparator group

Description:

In this arm of the experiment, participants will receive the response delay intervention.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Response Delay

Baseline Performance

Sham Comparator group

Description:

In this arm of the study, participants will complete the task as it is typically administed.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Baseline Performance