Adolescents show lower accuracy and longer reaction times on counterintuitive misconception trials than on matched control trials in science and maths¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 2 studies · 2 associational r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2018 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Accuracy was lower on misconception trials (54.7%) than control trials (82.2%) in the science and maths misconceptions task. → Brookman-Byrne A 2018 q3 i? Reaction times were longer on misconception trials than control trials, and longer in maths than science. → Brookman-Byrne A 2018 (2)

Evidence¶

Brookman-Byrne A 2018¶

Brookman-Byrne A, Mareschal D, Tolmie AK, Dumontheil I (2018) Inhibitory control and counterintuitive science and maths reasoning in adolescence. PLoS ONE 13(6): e0198973. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0198973

q3 · i? · associational · r2

Mixed-model repeated measures ANOVA on accuracy in the science and maths misconceptions task (final N = 87) showed a main effect of Trial type, F(1, 83) = 816.73, p< .001, ηp2 = .908, with "a mean accuracy of 82.2%" in control versus 54.7% in misconception trials.

"participants tended to give the correct answer in control tri- als, with a mean accuracy of 82.2% (Table 2), while they made more errors on misconception trials, where the mean accuracy was 54.7%."

Brookman-Byrne A 2018 (2)¶

Brookman-Byrne A, Mareschal D, Tolmie AK, Dumontheil I (2018) Inhibitory control and counterintuitive science and maths reasoning in adolescence. PLoS ONE 13(6): e0198973. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0198973

q3 · i? · associational · r2

The same ANOVA on RT (N = 87) showed main effects of Trial type, F(1, 83) = 310.32, p< .001, ηp2 = .789, and Discipline, F(1, 83) = 55.73, p< .001, ηp2 = .402, "with longer RTs in maths compared to science, misconception compared to control trials".

"There were main effects of Trial type, Discipline, and Statement type, with longer RTs in maths compared to science, misconception compared to control trials, and false compared to true trials (Table 2)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Incongruent items in school-topic tasks are generally associated with longer response times and lower accuracy, patterns consistent with inhibitory control recruitment — a broader claim this one bears on
• In discipline-specific exploratory regressions, neither Stroop RT cost nor complex No-Go accuracy significantly predicted science or maths misconception measures separately
• Misconception-task accuracy increases with age between 12 and 15 years, with no age effect on reaction time — related
• Better response inhibition (complex No-Go accuracy) is associated with longer reaction times on counterintuitive misconception trials, not better performance — related
• Better semantic inhibition (smaller Stroop RT cost) is associated with higher accuracy on counterintuitive science and maths misconception trials — related
• The true-versus-false statement accuracy difference is larger for misconception than control trials, and significant for science but not maths — related
• Incongruent dot comparison trials are less accurate and slower than congruent trials, consistent with an added inhibition step — related
• Both text incongruency and knowledge inaccuracy produce increased reading times on target sentences — related