Theories of critical thinking suggest that executive functions play crucial roles in students’ critical thinking performance. However, very little empirical research has examined the potential confounding factors of fluid intelligence and thinking dispositions on the relationship between executive functions and critical thinking. Study 1, based on a large sample of university students, filled this gap by exploring how three core executive functions (updating, inhibition, and shifting) predicted critical thinking after controlling for fluid intelligence and thinking dispositions. The results showed that updating and inhibition predicted critical thinking over and above fluid intelligence and thinking dispositions. In Study 2, we explored the neural basis of the relationship between executive functions and critical thinking. We found that low-level critical thinkers exhibited higher P3 amplitudes than their high-level counterparts when completing updating and inhibition tasks. These results suggest that critical thinking relies on both updating and inhibition processes indexed by the P3 ERP components.

批判性思维理论表明，执行职能在学生的批判性思维表现中起着至关重要的作用。然而，很少有实证研究检查流体智能的潜在混杂因素和执行功能与批判性思维之间关系的思维倾向。研究1基于大量的大学生样本，通过探索三个核心执行功能（更新，抑制和转移）在控制流体智力和思维倾向后如何预测批判性思维来填补这一空白。结果表明，更新和抑制预示着超越流体智力和思维倾向的批判性思维。在研究2中，我们探索了执行功能与批判性思维之间关系的神经基础。我们发现，在完成更新和抑制任务时，低级批判性思想家的P3幅度要高于其高级别的思想家。这些结果表明批判性思维依赖于P3 ERP组件索引的更新和抑制过程。