Information Processing and Constraint Satisfaction in Wason’s Selection Task

In Wason’s Selection Task, subjects: (i) process information from the instructions and build a mental representation of the problem, then: (ii) select a course of action to solve the problem,under the constraints imposed by the instructions. We analyze both aspects as part of a constraint satisfaction problem without assuming Wason’s ‘logical’ solution to be the correct one. We show that outcome of step (i) may induce mutually inconsistent constraints, causing subjects to select at step (ii) solutions that violate some of them. Our analysis explains why inconsistent constraints are
less likely disrupt non-abstract (or “thematic”) versions of the tasks, but unlike Bayesians does not posit different mechanisms in abstract and thematic variants. We then assess the logicality of the
task, and conclude on cognitive tasks as coordination problems