Wason Selection Task

Wason Selection Task is a classic cognitive psychology experiment that tests people's ability to reason about conditional logic. The task was developed by the British psychologist Peter Wason in the 1960s and is sometimes called the "four-card problem" because it typically involves four cards that display information about a logical rule.
In the most common version of the Wason selection task, the participant is shown four cards, each with a number or a letter on one side and a color on the other side. The participant is then given a conditional rule, such as "if a card has a vowel on one side, then it must have an even number on the other side." The participant is then asked to turn over the cards that they need to test the rule, and to explain why they chose those cards.
The correct answer to the Wason selection task depends on the specific rule that is given. In general, the correct answer requires the participant to turn over the card that tests the antecedent of the conditional rule (e.g., a card with a vowel) and the card that tests the consequent (e.g., a card with an even number). However, many people find the task difficult and are prone to making errors, such as only turning over the card that tests the antecedent or turning over cards that are irrelevant to the rule.
The Wason selection task has been used extensively in cognitive psychology research to study how people reason about logic and how they make errors in reasoning. It has also been used to investigate the role of working memory, cognitive load, and other factors that may influence performance on the task.
Category:Psychology
Category:Philosophy