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Substitution Heuristic on Proportional Tasks

NCT06762366 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 442

Last updated 2026-06-05

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

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.

Conditions

  • Proportional Reasoning
  • Substitution Heuristic

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Additional Incentive

During this behavioral intervention, participants will be given additional compensation for correct answers.

BEHAVIORAL

Response Delay

During this behavioral intervention, participants will not be allowed to respond with their judgements until after a certain amount of time has passed.

BEHAVIORAL

Baseline Performance

In this intervention, the participant completes the task as it is typically administer for a baseline performance measure. The participant can respond at will and does not receive incentive for correct responses.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

    collaborator NIH

  • Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

    collaborator OTHER

  • Michelle Hurst, PhD

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
64 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2024-12-13
Primary Completion
2026-03-15
Completion
2026-03-15

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06762366 on ClinicalTrials.gov