Working memory and syllogistic reasoning.

Syllogistic Reasoning Tasks, Working Memory, and Skill

Syllogistic reasoning performance in MDMA (Ecstasy) users.

Previous research has demonstrated working memory and executive deficits in recreational users of MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine; Ecstasy). In turn, both of these constructs have been implicated in syllogistic reasoning performance. Twenty-two MDMA users (mean age = 21.36) and 26 MDMA nonuser controls (mean age = 21.31) were tested on syllogisms of varying difficulty and on measures of...

Individual differences in working memory capacity and resistance to belief bias in syllogistic reasoning.

In two experiments, we investigated the possibility that individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) would provide resistance to belief bias in syllogistic reasoning. In Experiment 1 (N = 157), participants showed a belief bias effect in that they had longer response times and decreased accuracy on syllogisms with conflict between the validity and believability of the conclusion tha...

Can natural language semantics explain syllogistic reasoning?

It has long been known that conversion of the quantifiers can explain syllogistic reasoning errors (Newstead, 1989; Revlis, 1975; Wilkins, 1928). Geurts is more concerned with explaining how people solve valid syllogisms, and an integral part of his model is the (entirely legal) conversion of ‘no’ and ‘some’. This part of Geurts’ theory seems unexceptionable, but more problematic is his assumpt...

Probabilistic representation in syllogistic reasoning: A theory to integrate mental models and heuristics

This paper presents a new theory of syllogistic reasoning. The proposed model assumes there are probabilistic representations of given signature situations. Instead of conducting an exhaustive search, the model constructs an individual-based "logical" mental representation that expresses the most probable state of affairs, and derives a necessary conclusion that is not inconsistent with the mod...