Developing system 1: knowledge automatization drives sound intuiting.

Authors

Esther Boissin, Laura Charbit, Elora Taieb, Grégoire Borst, Wim De Neys

Published in

Trends in neuroscience and education. Volume 44. Pages 100295. Epub Jul 30, 2026.

Abstract

Recent dual-process research shows that adults can generate correct responses intuitively, whereas younger reasoners rarely do so. Yet the nature of their lower intuitive accuracy remains unclear. Does it reflect a general deficit in intuitive ("System 1") reasoning, or simply more limited task practice? We addressed this by manipulating task familiarity in two studies with 7^th-grade adolescents (approximately 12 years old). We contrasted performance on numerical reasoning tasks involving well-practiced logico-mathematical principles for these students (Study 1: arithmetic word problems; Study 2: decimal comparison) with a task involving a less-practiced principle (the bat-and-ball problem). Using a two-response paradigm, participants first provided an answer under time pressure and cognitive load, followed by a final, unconstrained answer to distinguish intuitive from deliberate reasoning. Across both studies, correct responses on well-practiced tasks were predominantly intuitive, whereas both intuitive and deliberative accuracies were low on the less-practiced task. This supports the view that correct intuitive reasoning depends on prior knowledge automatization and provides evidence against a generic "System 1" developmental deficit.

PMID:
42697627
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 05 Sep 2026.

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