52 - Distinct Brain Loci in Deductive versus Probabilistic Reasoning
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Summary
Introduction
Normative theories of reasoning distinguish two kinds of persuasive arguments depending on the inferential connection between premises and conclusion. If the truth of an argument's premises guarantee that of its conclusion, the argument is called valid, whereas if the premises merely enhance the plausibility of the conclusion, the argument is probabilistically strong. Human intuition about validity and probability is limited to inferences of moderate size and reveals systematic imperfections even when applied to simple cases. Nonetheless, starting from adolescence both forms of reasoning are recognizable approximations to their normative counterparts [3, 6, 11].
What is the psychological relation between deductive and probabilistic reasoning? One influential theory conceives both kinds of reasoning as involving the manipulation of ‘mental models’. In this view, an argument is evaluated by constructing alternative models of its premises, where each model is a representation of potential circumstances that would render the premises true. The argument is then judged to be probabilistically strong in case a large proportion of the models generated for the premises render the conclusion true as well; the intuition of validity arises from the limiting case in which this proportion reaches one. Within epistemology, such an account of the relation between validity and probability was proposed by Wittgenstein [[41], §5.15], and followed up by de Finetti [9] and others. A psychological version of the same idea has recently been proposed by Johnson-Laird [23], where it receives detailed and persuasive defense.
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- ReasoningStudies of Human Inference and its Foundations, pp. 1016 - 1023Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008
References
, and , The functional anatomy of logic: a PET study of inferential reasoning. NeuroImage, 1996, 3, S218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , , , , and , The role of the right hemisphere in the interpretation of figurative aspects of language. Brain, 1994, 117, 1241–1253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, On the relation between the natural logic of reasoning and standard logic. Psychological Review, 1978, 85, 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braine, M. D. S., The ‘natural logic’ approach to reasoning. In Reasoning, Necessity, and Logic: Developmental Perspectives, ed. . Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 1990.Google Scholar
, , and Right hemispheric damage and verbal problem solving behavior. Brain and Language, 1976, 3, 41–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , , and , Selective and divided attention during visual discriminations of shape, color, and speed: functional anatomy by positron emission tomography. Journal of Neuroscience, 1991, 11, 2383–2402.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Finetti, B., Foresight: its logical laws and its subjective sources. In Studies in Subjective Probability, ed. and . Wiley, New York, 1964.Google Scholar
, , , , and , Performance characteristics of a whole-body PET scanner. Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 1994, 35, 1398–1406.Google ScholarPubMed
, , , , and , A positron emission tomography study of the short-term maintenance of verbal information. Journal of Neuroscience, 1996, 16, 808–822.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , , , , and , Other minds in the brain: a functional imaging study of “theory of mind” in story comprehension. Cognition, 1995, 57, 109–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, Two modes of mental representation and problem solution in syllogistic reasoning. Cognition, 1995, 54, 1–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
and , Noninvasive functional brain mapping by change-distribution analysis of averaged PET images of H215O tissue activity. Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 1989, 30, 141–149.Google ScholarPubMed
, , and , The principal component analysis of large (PET) data sets. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, 1993, 13, 5–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , , , and , Spatial registration and normalization of images. Human Brain Mapping, 1995, 2, 165–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , , and , Statistical parameter maps in functional imaging: a general linear approach. Human Brain Mapping, 1995, 2, 189–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , and , Working memory and strategies in syllogistic-reasoning tasks. Memory and Cognition, 1993, 21, 115–124.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , , , , , , and , Dissociation of object and spatial visual processing pathways in human extrastriate cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, U.S.A., 1991, 88, 1621–1625.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , , , , , , and , Illusory contours activate specific regions in human visual cortex: evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, U.S.A., 1995, 92, 6469–6473.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson-Laird, P. N., Mental models, deductive reasoning, and the brain. In The Cognitive Neurosciences, ed. . MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1995, pp. 999–1008.Google Scholar
, and , Activation of cerebellar output nucleus during cognitive processing. Science, 1994, 265, 949–951.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , and , Topographical representations of mental images in primary visual cortex. Nature, 1995, 378, 496–498.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , , , and , A non-invasive positron computed tomography technique using oxygen-15 labelled water for the evaluation of neurobehavioral task batteries. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow Metabolism, 1985, 5, 70–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , and , The anterior cingulate cortex mediates processing selection in the Stroop attentional conflict paradigm. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, U.S.A., 1990, 87, 256–259.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, and , The neural correlates of the verbal component of working memory. Nature, 1993, 362, 342–345.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , , , , and , Brain processing of native and foreign languages. Neuro-Report, 1996, 55, 99–101.Google Scholar
Posner, M. I., Attention in cognitive neuro-science: an overview. In The Cognitive Neurosciences, ed. . MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1995, pp. 615–624.Google Scholar
and , The attention system of the human brain. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 1990, 13, 25–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
and , The involvement of the frontal lobe in cognitive estimation. Cortex, 1978, 14, 294–303.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
and , Estimation of frequency of occurrence of abstract designs after frontal or temporal lobectomy. Neuropsychologia, 1988, 26, 297–306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
and , Differential effects of frontal lobe lesions on cognitive estimation and spatial memory. Neuropsychologia, 1984, 22, 697–705.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1961. German edition published in 1921.Google Scholar
Accessibility standard: Unknown
Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown
and may be updated in the future.