Smarter and Richer?: Executive Processing and the Monty Hall Dilemma

The Monty Hall Dilemma (MHD) is a striking example of the human tendency to base probability judgment on intuitive, erroneous heuristics instead of an analytic, normative reasoning process. Two experiments tested the claim (e.g., Stanovich & West, 2000) that correct, normative reasoning draws on executive, working memory resources (WM) whereas heuristic reasoning would be purely automatic. Experiment 1A examined the link between MHD-reasoning and WM-capacity. Participants that solved the MHD correctly had a significantly higher WM-capacity. Experiment 1B presents a new approach to test the role of the WMresources experimentally. Participants solved the MHD while WM-resources were burdened by a secondary task. Correct responses decreased under load. The results provide new evidence for the differential role of executive resources in heuristic and analytic reasoning.