C. Vezeau et L. Reid, ANALYSIS OF DIFFICULTIES LINKED TO THE PR OCESSING OF NEGATIVE CASES IN A CONCEPT-IDENTIFICATION TASK, Canadian journal of experimental psychology, 51(1), 1997, pp. 47-56
A number of studies have already shown that subjects have difficulty p
rocessing information conveyed by negative cases in tasks involving th
e identification of concepts. Beyond the many attempts to explain this
phenomenon, past research has not succeeded in helping to identify th
e specific weaknesses involved in processing this type of information.
The objective of the two studies presented here was, initially, to id
entify the specific weaknesses in processing information conveyed by n
egative cases and, secondly, to improve the quality of such informatio
n processing through actions directly focusing on the weaknesses ident
ified. The findings of the first study confirm the deficient processin
g of negative cases and suggest that the subjects are not using an app
ropriate cognitive rule allowing them to correctly process this type o
f information. The findings of the second study confirm this interpret
ation and show that the quality of such information processing can be
improved when the subjects are prompted to use a cognitive rule that r
educes the number of steps involved in information processing.