Extrapolation accuracy underestimates rule learning: Evidence from the function-learning paradigm.

Understanding the development of non-linear processes such as economic or population growth is an important prerequisite for informed decisions in those areas. In the function-learning paradigm, people's understanding of the function rule that underlies the to-be predicted process is typically measured by means of extrapolation accuracy. Here we argue, however, that even though accurate extrapolation necessitates rule-learning, the reverse does not necessarily hold: Inaccurate extrapolation does not exclude rule-learning.