Substitution Heuristic on Proportional Tasks

June 4, 2026 updated by: Michelle Hurst, PhD

Substitution in Adult Proportional Reasoning

The goal of this clinical trial is to test whether or not adults use a substitution heuristic when reasoning about proportions. The main question it aims to answer is:

Do adults use a substitution heuristic when judging non-symbolic proportions, leading them to answer an easier, yet incorrect question?

Researchers will compare performance at baseline with one of two conditions in order to see if forced behavioral changes can change performance on the task.

Participants will be asked to compare two images and judge which has the higher proportion of the target color. Each participant will also be assigned to one of two condition where they either receive a further incentive for correct selections or are required to use more time when making their calculations.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

442

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • New Jersey
      • Piscataway, New Jersey, United States, 08854
        • Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Typically developing people within the target age range

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Individuals with known developmental or cognitive disorders
  • Participants must speak/read sufficient English to read and complete the informed consent document

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Basic Science
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Additional Incentive
In this arm of the experiment, participants will receive the additional incentive intervention.
Behavioral: Additional Incentive
During this behavioral intervention, participants will be given additional compensation for correct answers.
Active Comparator: Response Delay
In this arm of the experiment, participants will receive the response delay intervention.
Behavioral: Response Delay
During this behavioral intervention, participants will not be allowed to respond with their judgements until after a certain amount of time has passed.
Sham Comparator: Baseline Performance
In this arm of the study, participants will complete the task as it is typically administed.
Behavioral: Baseline Performance
In this intervention, the participant completes the task as it is typically administer for a baseline performance measure. The participant can respond at will and does not receive incentive for correct responses.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Proportion Correct
Time Frame: up to 20 minutes
Accuracy will be measured for each trial and combined into an overall score (i.e., proportion of trials correct).
up to 20 minutes
Reaction Time
Time Frame: up to 20 minutes
Reaction time will also be tracked (i.e., time it takes to respond), with a faster reaction time indicating ease and/or efficiency with the task.
up to 20 minutes

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Michelle Hurst, PhD

Collaborators

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

December 13, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 15, 2026

Study Completion (Actual)

March 15, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 23, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 6, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

January 7, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 5, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 4, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Pro2024002168
  • R00HD104990 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

All de-identified participant responses to all measures, as well as de-identified demographics (e.g., age, gender) will be made publicly available on a data repository.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Beginning when the results are published (if not earlier) with no planned end date.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

De-identified data will be publicly available under a creative commons license only requesting attribution.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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