Voluntary control of information processing is crucial to allocate resources and prioritize the processes that are most\nimportant under a given situation; the algorithms underlying such control, however, are often not clear. We investigated\npossible algorithms of control for the performance of the majority function, in which participants searched for and identified\none of two alternative categories (left or right pointing arrows) as composing the majority in each stimulus set. We\nmanipulated the amount (set size of 1, 3, and 5) and content (ratio of left and right pointing arrows within a set) of the\ninputs to test competing hypotheses regarding mental operations for information processing. Using a novel measure based\non computational load, we found that reaction time was best predicted by a grouping search algorithm as compared to\nalternative algorithms (i.e., exhaustive or self-terminating search). The grouping search algorithm involves sampling and\nresampling of the inputs before a decision is reached. These findings highlight the importance of investigating the\nimplications of voluntary control via algorithms of mental operations.
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