Wason’s (1960) selection task requires that one imagine which of four cards, each of which has a letter on one side and a number on the other, one would have to turn over to determine whether a statement about the cards is true or false. For example, one might see four cards showing T, H, 6 and 4 and be asked to say which card or cards one would have to turn over to determine whether a statement in the form of IF A CARD HAS T ON ONE SIDE, IT HAS 4 ON THE OTHER is true. In the great majority of experiments with this task no cards are actually turned. This limits the conclusions that can be drawn from experimental results. In two experiments participants actually turned (had a computer turn) virtual cards so as to show what they contained on their originally-hidden sides. Participants were given a monetary incentive to do well on the task, and they performed it, with trial-by-trial feedback, many times. Performance was much better than is typically obtained with the more common way of performing the task. Results also demonstrate the importance of the precise wording of the statement to be evaluated and how a misinterpretation could help account for a tendency for people to turn only a single card even when the turning of two is required. Results prompt several questions of a theoretical nature and are discussed as they relate to recent theoretical treatments of the selection task.

Wason (1960) 的选择任务要求人们想象四张卡片中的哪一张，每张卡片的一面有一个字母，另一面有一个数字，人们必须翻过来来确定关于这些卡片的陈述是真是假。例如，一个人可能会看到四张显示 T、H、6 和 4 的卡片，并被要求说出一张或多张卡片必须翻过来，以确定是否以 IF A CARD HAS T ON ONE, IT有 4 个是真的。在这项任务的绝大多数实验中，实际上没有翻牌。这限制了可以从实验结果中得出的结论。在两个实验中，参与者实际上转动了（转动了计算机）虚拟卡片，以显示它们最初隐藏的一面所包含的内容。参与者被给予金钱奖励来完成任务，他们执行了多次试验，通过试验反馈。性能比使用更常见的任务执行方式通常获得的性能要好得多。结果还证明了要评估的陈述的精确措辞的重要性，以及误解如何有助于解释人们即使需要转动两张卡片也只转动一张卡片的倾向。结果提示了几个具有理论性质的问题，并讨论了它们与最近对选择任务的理论处理有关的问题。结果还证明了要评估的陈述的精确措辞的重要性，以及误解如何有助于解释人们即使需要转动两张卡片也只转动一张卡片的倾向。结果提示了几个具有理论性质的问题，并讨论了它们与最近对选择任务的理论处理有关的问题。结果还证明了要评估的陈述的精确措辞的重要性，以及误解如何有助于解释人们即使需要转动两张卡片也只转动一张卡片的倾向。结果提示了几个具有理论性质的问题，并讨论了它们与最近对选择任务的理论处理有关的问题。