title: The persistence of the fluency-confidence association in problem solving.
abstract: Confidence in answers is known to be sensitive to the fluency with which answers come to mind. One aspect of fluency is response latency. Latency is often a valid cue for accuracy, showing an inverse relationship with both accuracy rates and confidence. The present study examined the independent latency-confidence association in problem-solving tasks. The tasks were ecologically valid situations in which latency showed no validity, moderate validity, and high validity as a predictor of accuracy. In Experiment 1, misleading problems, which often elicit initial wrong solutions, were answered in open-ended and multiple-choice test formats. Under the open-ended test format, latency was absolutely not valid in predicting accuracy: Quickly and slowly provided solutions had a similar chance of being correct. Under the multiple-choice test format, latency predicted accuracy better. In Experiment 2, nonmisleading problems were used; here, latency was highly valid in predicting accuracy. A breakdown into correct and incorrect solutions allowed examination of the independent latency-confidence relationship when latency necessarily had no validity in predicting accuracy. In all conditions, regardless of latency's validity in predicting accuracy, confidence was persistently sensitive to latency: The participants were more confident in solutions provided quickly than in those that involved lengthy thinking. The study suggests that the reliability of the latency-confidence association in problem solving depends on the strength of the inverse relationship between latency and accuracy in the particular task.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Technion City, Haifa, Israel 32000. ackerman@ie.technion.ac.il
authors.forename: Rakefet
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ackerman
authors.forename: Hagar
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zalmanov
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D012649:Self Concept