Cognitive Dynamics on the Balance-Scale Task

Our ability to detect patterns and observe regularities is a fundamental part of reasoning and learning. Various theoretical accounts conceptualize induction in different ways. In the current study, we used the balance-scale task and mouse-tracking techniques as a means to explore the cognitive dynamics that underlie inductive pattern recognition. Although we did not replicate an expected interaction between problem difficulty and task instruction because of a procedural constraint, we were still able to examine the implicit cognitive dynamics underlying explicit behavioral responses as a function of problem difficulty. In particular, we found some support that newer, nonalgorithmic accounts of cognition on such tasks better characterize performance than rule-based accounts.