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Hadžiahmetović N, Opačić G, Teovanović P, Kolenović-Đapo J. The desirability bias in personality-related syllogistic reasoning. Scand J Psychol 2024; 65:394-402. [PMID: 38041434 DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12984] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2022] [Revised: 10/28/2023] [Accepted: 10/30/2023] [Indexed: 12/03/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION The belief-bias effect is a tendency to evaluate syllogistic statements based on believability rather than on formal logic validity. Following this rationale, the study examines desirability bias as the tendency to evaluate syllogistic conclusions based on their desirability when reasoning is conducted on personality-relevant categorical syllogisms. METHODS For this purpose, 60 syllogisms were constructed based on the items of the Big Five questionnaire. Syllogisms were subsequently categorized as desirable (e.g., "I empathize with others") and undesirable (e.g., "I am passive") based on their conclusion. In each task, the second premise and the conclusion were formulated in the first person to increase a respondent's identification with the content. A total of 300 university students (Mage = 20.08, SD = 2.02) participated in the study. RESULTS A 2 (syllogism validity: valid, invalid) × 2 (syllogism desirability: desirable, undesirable) repeated measures ANOVA was employed. The analysis showed a greater tendency to accept desirable conclusions on valid syllogisms (valid desirable rather than valid undesirable) and reject undesirable conclusions on invalid syllogisms (invalid undesirable rather than invalid desirable). CONCLUSION These findings have implications for socially desirable responding in cognitive tasks, which may be further developed as a source of self-relevant content as well as for further extension of belief bias in the form of desirability bias.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nina Hadžiahmetović
- Department of Psychology, University of Sarajevo-Faculty of Philosophy, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
| | - Goran Opačić
- Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Predrag Teovanović
- Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Jadranka Kolenović-Đapo
- Department of Psychology, University of Sarajevo-Faculty of Philosophy, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Kelley LJ, Espinoza A, Curtis DA, Randell A, Abuharthieh AK. Accuracy and Response Time for Modus Ponens Syllogisms Vary by Controversial Topic and Categorical Emotion. Psychol Rep 2023; 126:3000-3027. [PMID: 37964448 DOI: 10.1177/00332941221125777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2023]
Abstract
Researchers have documented differential effects of emotion on cognitive processes, debating whether emotion may increase or decrease the response time and accuracy of logical thinking. The current study proposed that differences may be due to variability occurring across topic and categorical emotions, such that assessment of several basic emotional responses in the context of performing logical reasoning tasks may provide an initial indication of these differences. Utilizing modus ponens syllogisms composed of controversial statements, the current study evoked a variety of emotional responses and tested the accuracy of participants' basic logical thinking. Results indicated that logical skills were largely preserved despite the topic and emotion, nonetheless, accuracy varied across syllogism type (controversial vs. control), with increased accuracy on controversial syllogisms. Syllogisms rated as evoking no emotion were answered more accurately than those that evoked any emotion, with disgust and anger associated with less accuracy than no emotion and gladness associated with increased accuracy. Response times also differed across syllogism type, emotion, and emotion intensity.
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Castro AA, Hummel JE, Berenbaum H. An experimental and simulation study of the impact of emotional information on analogical reasoning. Cognition 2023; 238:105510. [PMID: 37336023 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105510] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2021] [Revised: 06/04/2023] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 06/21/2023]
Abstract
We investigated whether and how emotional information would affect analogical reasoning. We hypothesized that task-irrelevant emotional information would impair performance whereas task-relevant emotional information would enhance it. In Study 1, 233 undergraduates completed a novel version of the People Pieces Task (Emotional Faces People Task), an analogical reasoning task in which the task characters displayed emotional or neutral facial expressions (within-participants). The emotional faces were relevant or irrelevant to the task (between-participants). We simulated the behavioral results using the Learning and Inference with Schemas and Analogies (LISA) model of relational reasoning. LISA is a neurally plausible, symbolic-connectionist computational model of analogical reasoning. In comparison to neutral trials, participants were slower but more accurate on emotion-relevant trials, and were faster but less accurate on emotion-irrelevant trials. Simulations using the LISA model demonstrated that it is possible to account for the effects of emotional information on reasoning in terms of how emotional stimuli attract attention during a reasoning task. In Study 2, 255 undergraduates completed the Emotional Faces People Task at either a high- or low-working memory load. The high working memory load condition of Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1, showing that participants were more accurate on emotion-relevant trials than on emotion-irrelevant trials; in Study 2, this increased accuracy could not be accounted for by a speed-accuracy tradeoff. The working memory manipulation influenced the manner in which the congruence (with the correct answer) of emotion-irrelevant emotion influenced performance. Simulations using the LISA model showed that manipulating the salience of emotion, the error penalty, as well as vigilance (which determines the likelihood that LISA will notice it has attended to an irrelevant relation), could reasonably reproduce the behavioral results of both low and high working memory load conditions of Study 2.
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Belekou A, Papageorgiou C, Karavasilis E, Tsaltas E, Kelekis N, Klein C, Smyrnis N. Paradoxical Reasoning: An fMRI Study. Front Psychol 2022; 13:850491. [PMID: 35592168 PMCID: PMC9113220 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.850491] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Paradoxes are a special form of reasoning leading to absurd inferences in contrast to logical reasoning that is used to reach valid conclusions. A functional MRI (fMRI) study was conducted to investigate the neural substrates of paradoxical and deductive reasoning. Twenty-four healthy participants were scanned using fMRI, while they engaged in reasoning tasks based on arguments, which were either Zeno’s like paradoxes (paradoxical reasoning) or Aristotelian arguments (deductive reasoning). Clusters of significant activation for paradoxical reasoning were located in bilateral inferior frontal and middle temporal gyrus. Clusters of significant activation for deductive reasoning were located in bilateral superior and inferior parietal lobe, precuneus, and inferior frontal gyrus. These results confirmed that different brain activation patterns are engaged for paradoxical vs. deductive reasoning providing a basis for future studies on human physiological as well as pathological reasoning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antigoni Belekou
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Sensorimotor Control, University Mental Health, Neurosciences and Precision Medicine Research Institute "COSTAS STEFANIS", Athens, Greece.,First Department of Psychiatry, Eginition Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Charalabos Papageorgiou
- First Department of Psychiatry, Eginition Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Efstratios Karavasilis
- Second Department of Radiology, General University Hospital "ATTIKON", Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Eleftheria Tsaltas
- First Department of Psychiatry, Eginition Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Nikolaos Kelekis
- Second Department of Radiology, General University Hospital "ATTIKON", Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Christoph Klein
- Second Department of Psychiatry, General University Hospital "ATTIKON", Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical Faculty, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Nikolaos Smyrnis
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Sensorimotor Control, University Mental Health, Neurosciences and Precision Medicine Research Institute "COSTAS STEFANIS", Athens, Greece.,Second Department of Psychiatry, General University Hospital "ATTIKON", Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
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Feng W, Wang W, Liu J, Wang Z, Tian L, Fan L. Neural Correlates of Causal Inferences in Discourse Understanding and Logical Problem-Solving: A Meta-Analysis Study. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:666179. [PMID: 34248525 PMCID: PMC8261065 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.666179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2021] [Accepted: 05/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In discourse comprehension, we need to draw inferences to make sense of discourse. Previous neuroimaging studies have investigated the neural correlates of causal inferences in discourse understanding. However, these findings have been divergent, and how these types of inferences are related to causal inferences in logical problem-solving remains unclear. Using the activation likelihood estimation (ALE) approach, the current meta-analysis analyzed 19 experiments on causal inferences in discourse understanding and 20 experiments on those in logical problem-solving to identify the neural correlates of these two cognitive processes and their shared and distinct neural correlates. We found that causal inferences in discourse comprehension recruited a left-lateralized frontotemporal brain system, including the left inferior frontal gyrus, the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG), and the bilateral medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), while causal inferences in logical problem-solving engaged a nonoverlapping brain system in the frontal and parietal cortex, including the left inferior frontal gyrus, the bilateral middle frontal gyri, the dorsal MPFC, and the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL). Furthermore, the pattern similarity analyses showed that causal inferences in discourse understanding were primarily related to the terms about language processing and theory-of-mind processing. Both types of inferences were found to be related to the terms about memory and executive function. These findings suggest that causal inferences in discourse understanding recruit distinct neural bases from those in logical problem-solving and rely more on semantic knowledge and social interaction experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wangshu Feng
- Research Institute of Foreign Languages, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing, China
| | - Weijuan Wang
- Research Institute of Foreign Languages, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing, China
| | - Jia Liu
- Research Institute of Foreign Languages, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing, China
| | - Zhen Wang
- Research Institute of Foreign Languages, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing, China
| | - Lingyun Tian
- National Research Centre for Foreign Language Education, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing, China
| | - Lin Fan
- Artificial Intelligence and Human Languages Lab, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing, China
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Wertheim J, Ragni M. The Neurocognitive Correlates of Human Reasoning: A Meta-analysis of Conditional and Syllogistic Inferences. J Cogn Neurosci 2020; 32:1061-1078. [PMID: 31951155 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01531] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Inferring knowledge is a core aspect of human cognition. We can form complex sentences connecting different pieces of information, such as in conditional statements like "if someone drinks alcohol, then they must be older than 18." These are relevant for causal reasoning about our environment and allow us to think about hypothetical scenarios. Another central aspect to forming complex statements is to quantify about sets, such as in "some apples are green." Reasoning in terms of the ability to form these statements is not yet fully understood, despite being an active field of interdisciplinary research. On a theoretical level, several conceptual frameworks have been proposed, predicting diverging brain activation patterns during the reasoning process. We present a meta-analysis comprising the results of 32 neuroimaging experiments about reasoning, which we subdivided by their structure, content, and requirement for world knowledge. In conditional tasks, we identified activation in the left middle and rostrolateral pFC and parietal regions, whereas syllogistic tasks elicit activation in Broca's complex, including the BG. Concerning the content differentiation, abstract tasks exhibit activation in the left inferior and rostrolateral pFC and inferior parietal regions, whereas content tasks are in the left superior pFC and parieto-occipital regions. The findings clarify the neurocognitive mechanisms of reasoning and exhibit clear distinctions between the task's type and content. Overall, we found that the activation differences clarify inconsistent results from accumulated data and serve as useful scaffolding differentiations for theory-driven interpretations of the neuroscientific correlates of human reasoning.
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Rodríguez-Gómez P, Pozo MÁ, Hinojosa JA, Moreno EM. Please be logical, I am in a bad mood: An electrophysiological study of mood effects on reasoning. Neuropsychologia 2019; 127:19-28. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.02.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2018] [Revised: 12/20/2018] [Accepted: 02/14/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Viau-Quesnel C, Savary M, Blanchette I. Reasoning and concurrent timing: a study of the mechanisms underlying the effect of emotion on reasoning. Cogn Emot 2018; 33:1020-1030. [DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2018.1535427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Charles Viau-Quesnel
- Département de psychoéducation, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Canada
| | - Maréva Savary
- Département de psychologie, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Canada
| | - Isabelle Blanchette
- Département de psychologie, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Canada
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Silveira S, Fehse K, Vedder A, Elvers K, Hennig-Fast K. Is it the picture or is it the frame? An fMRI study on the neurobiology of framing effects. Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 9:528. [PMID: 26528161 PMCID: PMC4602085 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2015] [Accepted: 09/11/2015] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we investigated whether a culturally defined context modulates the neurocognitive processing of artworks. We presented subjects with paintings from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, and labeled them as being either from the MoMA or from an adult education center. Irrespective of aesthetic appreciation, we found higher neural activation in the left precuneus, superior and inferior parietal cortex for the MoMA condition compared to the control label condition. When taking the aesthetic preference for a painting into account, the MoMA condition elicited higher involvement of right precuneus, bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and temporoparietal junction (TPJ). Our findings indicate that mental frames, in particular labels of social value, modulate both cognitive and affective aspects of sensory processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarita Silveira
- Human Science Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich Munich, Germany ; Institute of Medical Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich Munich, Germany
| | - Kai Fehse
- Human Science Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich Munich, Germany ; Institute of Medical Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich Munich, Germany
| | - Aline Vedder
- Human Science Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich Munich, Germany ; Institute of Medical Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich Munich, Germany
| | - Katrin Elvers
- Human Science Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich Munich, Germany ; Institute of Medical Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich Munich, Germany
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Turner BO, Marinsek N, Ryhal E, Miller MB. Hemispheric lateralization in reasoning. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2015; 1359:47-64. [PMID: 26426534 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.12940] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2015] [Revised: 08/17/2015] [Accepted: 08/20/2015] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
A growing body of evidence suggests that reasoning in humans relies on a number of related processes whose neural loci are largely lateralized to one hemisphere or the other. A recent review of this evidence concluded that the patterns of lateralization observed are organized according to two complementary tendencies. The left hemisphere attempts to reduce uncertainty by drawing inferences or creating explanations, even at the cost of ignoring conflicting evidence or generating implausible explanations. Conversely, the right hemisphere aims to reduce conflict by rejecting or refining explanations that are no longer tenable in the face of new evidence. In healthy adults, the hemispheres work together to achieve a balance between certainty and consistency, and a wealth of neuropsychological research supports the notion that upsetting this balance results in various failures in reasoning, including delusions. However, support for this model from the neuroimaging literature is mixed. Here, we examine the evidence for this framework from multiple research domains, including an activation likelihood estimation analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of reasoning. Our results suggest a need to either revise this model as it applies to healthy adults or to develop better tools for assessing lateralization in these individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin O Turner
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California
| | - Nicole Marinsek
- Dynamical Neuroscience, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California
| | - Emily Ryhal
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California
| | - Michael B Miller
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California
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Brunetti M, Sepede G, Ferretti A, Mingoia G, Romani GL, Babiloni C. Response inhibition failure to visual stimuli paired with a "single-type" stressor in PTSD patients: an fMRI pilot study. Brain Res Bull 2015; 114:20-30. [PMID: 25791360 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2015.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2014] [Revised: 01/28/2015] [Accepted: 03/05/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) tend to misinterpret innocuous stimuli as potential threats, possibly due to a conditioning provoked by traumatic episodes. Previous neuroimaging evidence has shown an abnormal activation of the amygdala and prefrontal cortex in PTSD patients during fear conditioning and extinction. Nevertheless, the effects of a single-type adverse stressor on that circuit remain poorly explored. We tested the hypothesis that a single-type adverse episode is able to affect the prefrontal cortex and amygdala response to conditioned stimuli. To test this hypothesis, fMRI recordings were performed in PTSD patients and trauma-exposed controls during the observation of neutral and negative paired or non-paired pictures with an adverse stimulus by means of a single association. Results showed that left amygdala activation during negative reinforced stimuli was correlated with the score of PTSD clinical scale across all subjects. Furthermore, in the traumatized non-PTSD group, the activation of the dorso-medial prefrontal cortex and bilateral amygdala was lower during the observation of the reinforced (CS(+)) versus non-reinforced pictures (CS(-)) in response to emotionally negative stimuli. This was not the case in the PTSD patients. These results suggest that in PTSD patients, a single-episode conditioning unveils the failure of an inhibitory mechanism moderating the activity of the prefrontal cortex and amygdala in response to adverse and neutral stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcella Brunetti
- Institute of Advanced Biomedical Technologies, University of Chieti, Italy; Department of Neuroscience, Imaging & Clinical Science, University of Chieti, Italy.
| | - Gianna Sepede
- Institute of Advanced Biomedical Technologies, University of Chieti, Italy; Department of Neuroscience, Imaging & Clinical Science, University of Chieti, Italy; Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neurosciences and Sense Organs, University "A. Moro", Bari, Italy
| | - Antonio Ferretti
- Institute of Advanced Biomedical Technologies, University of Chieti, Italy; Department of Neuroscience, Imaging & Clinical Science, University of Chieti, Italy
| | | | - Gian Luca Romani
- Institute of Advanced Biomedical Technologies, University of Chieti, Italy; Department of Neuroscience, Imaging & Clinical Science, University of Chieti, Italy
| | - Claudio Babiloni
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Rome "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy; IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana, Rome, Italy
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