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(2007) Synthese 155 (2).

Rule transition on the balance scale task

a case study in belief change

Brenda R. J. Jansen, Maartje E. J. Raijmakers, Ingmar Visser

pp. 211-236

For various domains in proportional reasoning cognitive development is characterized as a progression through a series of increasingly complex rules. A multiplicative relationship between two task features, such as weight and distance information of blocks placed at both sides of the fulcrum of a balance scale, appears difficult to discover. During development, children change their beliefs about the balance scale several times: from a focus on the weight dimension (Rule I) to occasionally considering the distance dimension (Rule II), guessing (Rule III), and applying multiplication (Rule IV; Siegler, 1981). Because of the detailed empirical findings the balance scale task has become a benchmark task for computational models of proportional reasoning.

Publication details

DOI: 10.1007/s11229-006-9142-9

Full citation:

J. Jansen, B. R. , Raijmakers, M. E. , Visser, I. (2007). Rule transition on the balance scale task: a case study in belief change. Synthese 155 (2), pp. 211-236.

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