Information processing experts have begun to examine how processing abilities relate to

formal operational thought.

Provide a detailed example of their efforts, and use adolescent
scientific reasoning, or decision making , theory and research to support your response.
What will be an ideal response?

Highly analytic scientific reasoning or advanced decision making abilities in adolescents
are clear signs of formal operational thought. To assess the contribution of processing
abilities to such higher-order thinking, these experts interview adolescents and ask
them to provide the steps they took to arrive at their response. In these studies, these
experts have noted that highly scientific thinkers go through a series of sophisticated
steps to arrive at their answer.  For example, the adolescent may critically consider the
evidence and discard their own personal theories. In a related vein, in decision making
studies, the adolescent may indicate that they considered several options, evaluated the
consequences of each option, reviewed their thinking, and then arrived at a response.