Goel et al. (2000) - biological evidence of the dual process model

aim

to provide biological basis of how different types of memory processing take place in different parts of the brain

method

Participants were asked to carry out a logic task similar to the Wason selection tasks (1968). \n In some cases, the task was abstract in nature (for example, an odd number and a matching colour). \n In contrast, some of the tasks were "concrete" in nature (for example, drinking beer and under 18). \n They had to decide on the choices while in an fMRI machine

findings

When the task was abstract, the parietal lobe was active; \n When the task was concrete, the left hemisphere temporal lobe was active.

conclusions

The parietal lobe is often associated with spatial processing. This seems to indicate that the brain processes these two types of information differently

strengths

\- concrete proof, no researcher bias

\- Lab experiment → high control = high replicability

\- neuropsychological approach to understanding the cognitive process of thinking and decision making

limitations

\- small sample size because fMRI is expensive

\- doesn’t consider prior knowledge of task

\- low ecological validity → artificial task, not applicable to real life, not accurate representation of matching bias in real world