The Development of Logical Intuitions: Task-Specific Automatization in Mathematical Reasoning

Recent reasoning theories propose that people can intuitively process elementary logico-mathematical principles. These controversial “logical intuitions” are believed to develop through a learning process where reasoners gradually automatize their application. To test this automatization hypothesis, we compared the reasoning performance of younger (fifth grade, ~10 years old) and older (seventh grade, ~12 years old) French students on mathematical reasoning tasks (Study 1: decimal comparison, 105 fifth-graders and 103 seventh-graders; Study 2: arithmetic word problems, 207 fifth-graders and 103 seventh-graders) that have been well-practiced by seventh graders. We used a two-response paradigm in which participants first provided an intuitive response under time pressure and/or cognitive load, followed by a more deliberate response. The results were mixed. In the decimal comparison task, seventh-graders were more likely than fifth-graders to produce correct intuitive responses without needing deliberative correction. However, this advantage did not extend to the arithmetic word problems, where seventh-graders did not outperform fifth-graders, either at the intuitive or deliberate stage. Overall, these findings provide partial support for the developmental automatization hypothesis and point to its potential task-dependent nature.