Automatization is retrieval beating rule-based computation

Correct: B — A shift from rule-based computation to direct retrieval of stored instances of past solutions

Logan (1988) argued that automatization is a memory phenomenon: each successful encounter with a problem stores a specific instance, and at test the system races algorithm against retrieval, with the faster process winning. Power-law speed-ups emerge naturally because the minimum of an increasing sample of independent retrieval times decays as a power function of practice. The theory unified data on visual search, alphabet arithmetic, and the Stroop task and predicted hallmark signatures: increasing variance ratios, transfer that depends on item-specific repetition, and dissociations between trained and untrained items even within the same task type.