Abstract: Hypothesis formation and testing is an important tool to solve any complex problems. It is also the foundation of discovering rules, forming concept, establishing hypothesis, and acquiring knowledge. On the basis of previous behavioral and EEG studies, this project takes “category generalization-rule discovery” as the major paradigm and provides observers with multiple-dimensions perceptual stimuli to investigate the mechanism of the thinking process. Observers need to find the category-based rules through perceptual observation and feedback learning. The project focus on the brain mechanism of hypothesis selection, hypothesis convergence and the processing of negative (conflict) information, and attempts to reveal the individual developmental characteristics of hypothesis generation and testing.

Key words: Hypothesis formation, Hypothesis testing, neural mechanism