WHEN PLAUSIBILITY JUDGMENTS SUPERSEDE FACT RETRIEVAL - THE EXAMPLE OFTHE ODD EVEN EFFECT ON PRODUCT VERIFICATION

In the present study, we examined the conditions that favor the plausi bility judgment strategy over the retrieval strategy when we verify so me statements. In particular, we examined the effect of odd-even statu s of numbers on subjects' verification of single-digit arithmetic prob lems. In Experiment 1, we explored how factors such as problem difficu lty and stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) influence this effect in adult s. In Experiment 2, we present evidence that this odd-even effect is a lso present in elementary school children, although it varies with the age of the children, the difficulty of the problems, and the SOA. We argue that the odd-even information is helpful in arithmetic verificat ion tasks with difficult problems early in the verification processes and that the time course of these effects differs across ages. The pre sent results are consistent with the view that the plausibility strate gy is preferred over the retrieval strategy at an early stage of proce ssing and with information that is not quickly accessible. Finally, we discuss the implications of the present experiments for understanding of single-digit arithmetic and for understanding the more general iss ue of how people coordinate use of multiple strategies.