Psychology (Functional Area: Developmental Science)

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Open Access
A Closer Look at the Effect of Bilingualism on Working Memory
(2019-11-22) Capani, Angela M.; Bialystok, Ellen B.
Previous research suggests that bilinguals act as experts when engaged in tasks requiring attentional control (Incera & McLennan, 2015). Experts across various domains are slower to initiate a response, but then produce a more efficient response. We used mouse-tracking to determine whether bilingual (n = 51) and monolingual (n = 51) young adults (M = 20.65) employed different strategies while engaged in two sets of memory tasks, the n-back and item/associative tasks. Language groups displayed similar performance on most tasks, however, bilinguals had longer initiation and reaction times than monolinguals on the associative task. When examined as a continuous factor, degree of bilingualism was positively correlated with initiation time. The results of the regression analysis support the conclusion that bilingualism impacts the strategies that participants display while completing memory tasks. In the future, tasks requiring more controlled processing should be utilized to allow for more robust differences to appear.
Open Access
Adults' long term memory as a function of birth experience
(2022-12-14) Au, Kar Yin Michelle; Adler, Scott A.
The growing rate of caesarean-section births has aroused concerns as it has shown to be associated with increasing biological and neurodevelopmental risks, but whether such neurodevelopmental impacts manifest behaviorally remain questionable. With studies demonstrating an attentional disruption in c-section-delivered infants and adults, similar effects are hypothesized to filter up the cognitive processing stream to memory function. The current study, therefore, aims to examine the birth experience effect on adults’ long-term memory. Vaginal-delivered and c-section-delivered adults participated in a two-day, memory-based visual search task. Results revealed that the two birth groups exhibited similar long-term memory retention and discrimination. However, memory differences might have been limited due to testing at a single retention interval as differences might manifest over longer intervals. Nonetheless, this finding suggests a negligible birth experience impact on adult’s long-term memory. Whether birth experience affects specific memory pathways and early memory development, as well as affecting memory differentially by c-section types, are yet to be examined.
Open Access
Assessing Context in Emotion Regulation: Validating the Difficulties in Interpersonal Regulation of Emotion (DIRE) Scale and Its Use in Measuring Emotion Regulation Variability
(2022-03-03) Girma, Fenote Selam; Rawana, Jennine
As research into emotion regulation (ER) expands, it is important to empirically account for contextually relevant aspects of interpersonal emotion regulation (IER). This study aimed to validate the Difficulties in Interpersonal Emotion Regulation (DIRE) scale, a new measure of interpersonal emotion dysregulation and examine its relationship to measures of psychopathology and well-being across three contexts (i.e., task, romantic, social). We also explored the utility of using the scenario-based structure of the DIRE scale to develop an ER variability score that would capture the number of strategies a person accesses between- and within-contexts. A test of the DIRE scale resulted in adequate model fit and validated its factor structure. DIRE scales were associated with emotion dysregulation, depression, and well-being. ER variability scores showed associations with emotion dysregulation and depression. These findings demonstrate the strong validity of the DIRE measure and underscore the importance of including situational contexts in IER research.
Open Access
Associations Between Socioeconomic Status and EEG Alpha Power in Monolingual and Bilingual Infants: Early Predictors of Neural Processes Underlying Executive Function
(2024-03-16) Maudoodi, Heala; Pierce, Lara
Research suggests that the bilingual experience facilitates the development of executive function (EF) skills, whereas experiencing low socioeconomic status (SES) has been associated with challenges to EF. Little research, however, has explored how SES contributes to variation in neural processes underlying EF during infancy, nor how SES and bilingualism interact to predict neural processes underlying EF. This study tested bilingual and monolingual exposed infants from low- to mid-SES backgrounds (n = 116) when they were 2, 6, 9, and 12 months of age to explore variation in an early neural predictor of EF - frontal alpha power. Results demonstrated that SES variables predicted alpha power at both 9 and 12 months. Minimal differences in alpha power were observed between bilingual and monolingual-exposed infants. However, language group did moderate associations between SES and alpha power at 9 months, such that negative associations between SES and frontal alpha were observed for the monolingual, but not bilingual group. Results suggest that SES contributes to variation in neural processes underlying EF from infancy and that bilingualism might act as a protective factor for early development of EF.
Open Access
Attentional Control Processing in Working Memory: Effects of Aging and Bilingualism
(2018-11-21) Sullivan, Margot Diane; Bialystok, Ellen B
Selective attention is required for working memory and is theorized to underlie the process of selecting between two active languages in bilinguals. Studies of working memory performance and bilingualism have produced divergent results and neural investigations are still in the early stages. The purpose of the current series of studies using older and younger bilingual and monolingual adults was to examine working memory processing by manipulating attentional control demands and task domain. It was hypothesized that bilinguals in both age groups will outperform monolinguals when verbal demands are low and when attentional control demands are high. Study 1 included behavioural tasks that varied by domain and attentional control. Study 2 addressed these factors by examining the neural correlates of maintenance and updating using ERPs. A third analytic approach using partial least squares (PLS) analysis was performed on the recognition data from Study 2 to assess contrasting group patterns of amplitude and signal variability using multiscale entropy (MSE). Bilingual performance was poorer than monolingual when the task involved verbal production, but bilinguals outperformed monolinguals when the task involved nonverbal interference resolution. P3 amplitude was largely impacted by attentional demands and aging, whereas language group differences were limited. Extensive language and age group differences emerged once whole brain neural patterns were examined. Bilingual older adults displayed a neural signature similar to younger adults for both amplitude and MSE measures. Older adult monolinguals did not show these patterns and required additional frontal resources for the difficult spatial update condition. Younger bilinguals showed long-range, frontal-parietal MSE patterns for updating in working memory. These results are consistent with the interpretation of brain functional reorganization for bilingual working memory processing and may represent adaptations to a top-down attentional control mechanism.
Open Access
Attentional Switching in Infants Exposed to Bilingual Versus Monolingual Environment
(2017-07-27) Kakvan, Mahta; Adler, Scott A.
Acquiring two languages poses a challenge to bilingual individuals, but the process of switching attention between two languages may equip bilinguals with enhanced cognitive control abilities such as top-down attentional control. In the current study, 6- to 7-month-old monolingually- and bilingually-exposed infants were examined on a task that required the use of top-down attentional control. Using a task called the Visual Expectation Cueing Paradigm (VExCP), infants anticipatory eye movements (EM) were measured to determine if they could override the previously learned cue-target side relation presented during pre-switch and learn the new cue-target side relation in post-switch. Although monolingually- and bilingually-exposed infants showed relatively equal number of correct anticipatory EM initially during post-switch, bilingually-exposed infants, towards the end of the task, outperformed monolingually-exposed infants in exhibiting correct anticipatory EM.
Open Access
Bilingualism as a Proxy of Cognitive Reserve
(2021-11-15) Berkes, Matthias Daniel; Bialystok, Ellen
Previous studies have reported bilingualism to be a proxy of cognitive reserve (CR) based on evidence that bilinguals express dementia symptoms ~4 years later than monolinguals yet present with greater neuropathology at time of diagnosis when clinical levels are similar. This dissertation presents two studies that provide further evidence for the contribution of bilingualism to CR. The first study uses a novel brain health matching paradigm. Forty cognitively normal bilinguals with diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance images recruited from the community were matched with monolinguals drawn from a pool of 165 individuals in the Alzheimers Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database. White matter integrity was calculated for all participants using fractional anisotropy, axial diffusivity, and radial diffusivity scores. Propensity scores were obtained using white matter measures, sex, age, and education as predictive covariates, and then used in one-to-one matching between language groups, creating a matched sample of 32 participants per group. Matched monolinguals had poorer clinical diagnoses than that predicted by chance from a theoretical null distribution, and poorer cognitive performances than matched bilinguals as measured by scores on the MMSE. The findings support the interpretation that bilingualism acts as a proxy of CR such that monolinguals have poorer clinical and cognitive outcomes than bilinguals for similar levels of white matter integrity even before clinical symptoms appear. The second study examines the role of biomarkers and genetic factors associated with Alzheimer disease in a sample of 641 individuals from the ADNI database. Gradient boosted regression modelling was used to examine the influence of 10 predictive factors on clinical diagnosis in 3 different models. Weighted propensity scores were applied to analyses of white matter integrity and cognitive performance between clinical groups in two models and between language groups in one model. Analyses revealed a strong influence of biomarkers and genetic factors on clinical diagnosis in monolingual participants, but underrepresentation of bilingual participants in the sample limited interpretations of the findings between language groups. The results of the second study indicate that information about biomarkers and genetic factors improves analyses exploring the role of CR on dementia outcomes.
Open Access
Can personal memories and fictional stories enhance retention of novel words and facts?
(2023-12-08) Deker, Lina; Pathman, Thanujeni
Two strategies that increase memory retention are the self-reference effect and generation effect. The generation effect involves the self generating the stimuli to-be-remembered. The self-reference effect involves knowledge about the self. Previous studies have compared the ‘self’ and ‘other’ conditions to determine whether a memory advantage exists. However, one novel way to compare these elements is directly comparing the ‘self’ and ‘other’ while also comparing effects of either asking participants to come up with an episodic AM or story narrative to associate with the to-be-remembered stimuli. Both studies in this dissertation had young adults complete two sessions separated by a two-day delay. Participants were divided into two groups: AM group and Story group. Each group learned adjective words (Study 1) or facts (Study 2) in conditions that differed in encoding task: baseline, self and other. Later, participants were tested on their retention of the words (Study 1) or facts (Study 2) using free recall and recognition subtasks. In both studies, memory performance was higher for all four experimental conditions compared to baseline. In Study 1 free recall subtask, recall of words was higher for AM group-self than Story group-self. However, no differences were found in recall between AM group-other and Story group-other. In Study 1 recognition subtask, there was a memory advantage for the self but no differences were found between AM and Story groups. In Study 2 free recall subtask, there were no differences in recall between the self and other conditions in the AM group. However, in the Story group, the number of facts recalled in the self condition was higher than the other condition. Moreover, in Study 2, recall of facts was higher for self condition in the Story group than AM group. In Study 2 recognition subtask, we found differences between AM and Story groups. These results can inform educators about strategies used to promote learning within the classroom.
Open Access
Differential Attentional Responding by Planned and Emergency Caesarean-Section Versus Vaginally Delivered Infants and Adults
(2020-05-11) Rahimi, Maryam; Adler, Scott A.
Search asymmetry occurs when feature-present targets are detected more easily than feature-absent targets, resulting in an efficient search (i.e. flat RT - set size function) for feature- present targets, but an inefficient search (i.e. increasing RT set size function) for feature-absent targets. Both 3-month-old infants and adults have been found to exhibit a search asymmetry when assessed with saccade latencies (Adler & Gallego, 2014). Additionally, caesarean-section delivered infants exhibit slower attention and saccadic latencies than those born vaginally (Adler & Wong-Kee-You, 2015). This study is designed to determine the relative effects of different birth experiences on attention and search asymmetry performance and whether differences persist in adulthood. Two different visual circular arrays were presented: feature-present target among feature-absent distractors (R among Ps) or feature-absent target among feature-present distractors (P among Rs) with array set sizes of 1, 3, 5, 8. Results indicated that infants and adults saccadic latencies were unaffected by set size in feature-present arrays, suggesting an efficient search. Both caesarean-section born infants and adults had slower saccadic latencies when compared to the vaginal groups. Interestingly, infants born via planned caesarean-section were slower when compared to an emergency caesarean-section. There were no differences in saccadic latencies, however, between emergency and planned caesarean-section adults, suggesting that any difference due to planned vs emergency caesarean-sections does not persist into adulthood. For feature absent targets, both infants and adults exhibited increasing saccadic latencies with set size, suggesting an inefficient search. These findings suggest that any caesarean-section birth influences bottom-up attention and requires greater reliance on top-down processing even into adulthood. Thus, the development of attentional mechanisms can be influenced by early birth experiences that also impact adulthood.
Open Access
Does Mother's Early Talk Impact Children's Inclusion of Time and Space Details in their Autobiographical Narratives? A 12- Year Longitudinal Study
(2022-12-14) Virk, Tarnpreet Kaur; Pathman, Thanujeni
In this longitudinal study we examined the developmental trajectory of children’s inclusion of WHEN (temporal) and WHERE (spatial) details in their autobiographical memory narratives from early childhood (25-, 40, and 65-months) into adolescence (12-years-old) and investigated the factors that led to this development. Results showed that children’s inclusion of time and space details were statistically significant over time, with development for time being steeper than development for space. Mother’s inclusions of time, but not space, details were significant over the early childhood period. Mother’s early inclusions of time, but not space, details were a predictor of children’s future talk for time. Conventional time knowledge task performance was also correlated with children’s future inclusions of time information. This is the first longitudinal study to examine children’s inclusion of time and space details across childhood and into adolescence, and to examine how early factors in childhood could predict future narrative behaviour.
Open Access
Ecological and Cognitive Influences on Orangutan Space Use
(2019-03-05) Bebko, Adam Osborne; Russon, Anne E.
Many primates depend on resources that are dispersed non-uniformly. Primates able to encode the locations of such resources and navigate efficiently between them would gain a selective advantage. However, little is currently known about the cognitive mechanisms that help primates achieve this efficiency in the wild. The presence habitual route networks in some primate species suggests they may navigate using route-based cognitive maps for encoding spatial information. However, little is known about factors that influence where such route networks are established. Recent evidence of habitual route networks in wild orangutans makes them ideal candidates for examining factors that affect the establishment and use of such networks. I completed three studies using new methodology to examine ecological and cognitive factors that may affect habitual route networks in wild orangutans living in Kutai National Park, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Results suggest that orangutan habitual route networks are likely the product of both local ecological considerations and how they cognitively encode and use spatial information. Results imply that the spatial configuration of habitual route networks may primarily be a product of local ecology, whereas how orangutans use them day-to-day may be a product of both local ecology and sophisticated cognitive strategies that may include cognitive maps. These studies demonstrate the utility of using modern mapping software and machine learning technology for applications in primate behavior and ecology.
Open Access
Effects of Birth Experience on Relational Memory in Adults
(2022-12-14) Ravi, Aarthi; Pathman, Thanujeni; Adler, Scott
Recent evidence has emerged that being born via planned or emergency cesarean section delivery (CSD) compared to vaginal delivery (VD) not only led to slower allocation of attention in human infants and adults but also affected hippocampal regions responsible for memory in mice. This is concerning as the number of C-sections has risen in the past two decades according to the World Health Organization. Therefore, the current study investigated if a higher-order cognitive function like relational memory, is also affected by CSD and if these effects last into adulthood. Birth experience effects on item-item, item-space and item-time relational memory along with item recognition were assessed in adult participants using a task developed by Konkel et al. (2008). Results indicated that the item-item memory performance was affected by CSD with planned CSD adults showing poorer recognition compared to emergency CSD adults. No differences in memory performance were found between either of the CSD groups and the VD group in any of the relational conditions. As relational binding has implications in forming autobiographical memories and connections between our past, present and future states, healthcare professionals should discuss with expecting mothers the potential long-term effects of planned CSD on their infants’ cognitive development.
Open Access
Examining the Influence of Semantic Knowledge on Episodic Memory
(2021-11-15) Kian, Tida; Pathman, Thanujeni
Memory is a critical capacity for everyday life. Memory is not one process but consists of different systems (Robertson & Khler, 2007). Semantic memory is memory for general knowledge about the world and episodic memory is memory for a specific event from a particular time and place in the past (Tulving, 1972, 1983). Tulving (1972) referred to these systems as two separated but partially related memory systems. However, relatively little is known about how these two systems relate. Specifically, the influence of semantic memory on episodic memory is not fully understood. This study investigated the influence of semantic memory on memory for events (actions) and their spatial locations. The final sample for this study included 73 participants. Participants were divided into two groups that varied in the delay they experienced between the encoding phase and retrieval phase (immediate group, n=37; delay group, n=36). During the encoding phase, participants were presented with images of cartoon characters completing an action along with an image of a background scene (i.e., locations) that either matched the action (congruent trial), did not match the action (incongruent trial) or an action that could be performed in any location (neutral trial). During the retrieval phase, participants were presented with actions and asked whether the action was old or new (old/new recognition memory) and, if old, asked to choose the background image that went with that action (spatial location) among a group of distractors. Across delay, participants more accurately identified the locations for the congruent actions compared to the locations for the incongruent actions. Across conditions, participants in the immediate group more accurately identified the actions and spatial locations compared to the delay group. Further, different patterns for the types of errors participants made were observed. This study adds to our knowledge about the influence of semantic memory on episodic memory. Future studies can expand the research to different settings (e.g., naturalistic environments) and with more variable samples (e.g., different age groups).
Open Access
Examining the Time Course of Attention in Monolinguals and Bilinguals
(2020-08-11) Chung-Fat-Yim, Ashley Kim; Bialystok, Ellen B.
There is converging evidence demonstrating that lifelong experience managing multiple languages on a regular basis has consequences for both language and cognition. Across the lifespan, bilinguals tend to outperform monolinguals on tasks that require selective attention. Compared to studies on children and older adults, these effects are less consistently observed in young adults. The majority of the research with young adults use relatively simple tasks that yield fast reaction times and accuracy rates at ceiling. In addition, these measures capture the endpoint of a chain of dynamic cognitive processes. Hence, the goal of the dissertation was to integrate two time-sensitive methodologies, mouse-tracking and eye-tracking, to examine whether monolinguals and bilinguals differ in the processes engaged between the time a response is initiated to when a response is selected. To assess cognitive performance, young adult and older adult monolinguals and bilinguals were administered the global-local task and oculomotor Stroop task while their eye-movements and mouse-movements were recorded. Both tasks involved focusing on one feature of the stimulus, while ignoring the other feature. When standard analyses of mean reaction time and accuracy were performed, no differences between language groups were observed in either age group. The mouse-tracking measures revealed that similar to experts, young adult bilinguals were slower to initiate a response than young adult monolinguals, while older adult bilinguals had a higher maximum velocity than older adult monolinguals. By using time-sensitive methodologies, we gain a deeper understanding of the cognitive processes associated with attention that are impacted by bilingualism during decision-making.
Open Access
Insight During Development, and its Structural Correlates
(2018-11-21) Jih, Weipeng; Goel, Vinod
We investigate whether adolescents and adults differ in their use of common cognitive processes in solving insight problems. We also investigate whether performance on insight problems is associated with brain structure, and whether these insight-structure associations are distinct or consistent across the two age groups. Common cognitive processes (operationalized by IQ scores) showed a positive trending correlation with insight (operationalized by accuracy in solving verbal riddles) in adults, but not in adolescents. However, these correlations were not significantly different. Thus, we failed to find a cognitive difference between adolescents and adults with regard to insight problem solving. Voxel based morphometry revealed that insight and gray matter volume are related in both age groups. Tract-based spatial statistics revealed that insight and fractional anisotropy values are related in adults. We could not determine whether insight-structure relationships are age-unique or age-consistent.
Open Access
Judging Credibility: Can Spaced Lessons Help Students Think More Critically Online?
(2016-11-25) Foot, Vanessa Lauren; Wiseheart, Melody S.
Despite its prevalence in the psychological literature, the spacing effect has not yet been fully explored in real-world classroom settings using curriculum-based material. The current study investigated whether laboratory effects of spacing can also be seen in the classroom, and if the spacing effect is still robust when extending from fact learning to critical thinking. Students were taught direct instruction in critical thinking where they judged the credibility of online sources as part of either a three-day consecutive or one per week set of lessons. Thirty-five days after the final lesson, students were tested in order to see how much of the material they retained and could apply to evaluating a new website. Results demonstrated that there were significant effects of spacing on the final test after 35 days. Students in the spacing condition were better able to explain their website ratings and remembered more of the facts from the lessons than students in the massed group. However, the website ratings did not differ significantly between the two groups at final test.
Open Access
Judging the Credibility of Websites: An Effectiveness Trial of the Spacing Effect in the Elementary Classroom
(2019-11-22) Foot, Vanessa Lauren; Wiseheart, Melody Sunshine
Spaced learningthe spacing effectis a cognitive phenomenon whereby memory for to-be-learned material is better when a fixed amount of study time is spread across multiple learning sessions instead of crammed into a more condensed time period. In an educational context, this means that long-term retention is enhanced when students begin to review subject material several days leading up to a test instead of cramming right before the test. The spacing effect has been shown to be effective across a wide range of ages and learning materials, but no research has been done that looks at whether spacing can be effective in real-world classrooms, using real curriculum content, and with real teachers leading the intervention. The current study was the next step in determining whether spacing can and should be implemented across the curriculum. Lesson plans for teaching website credibility was distributed to homeroom elementary teachers with specific instructions on how to manipulate the timing of the lessons for either a massed (one-per-day) or spaced (one-per-week) delivery, and after one month, students were asked to apply their knowledge on a final test, where they evaluated two new websites. Students in the spaced condition remembered more facts from the lessons but showed no spacing advantage on the critical thinking measures where they had to explain their ratings in a paragraph. There was no difference in the actual rating scores during the lessons or at final test. These results indicate that when lesson plans are released to homeroom teachers, variability between teachers and classrooms may result in an overall reduction or elimination of a traditional spacing effect. Future recommendations for spacing studies are made.
Open Access
Left Hemisphere Lesions Differentially Impact Conditional Reasoning with Familiar and Emotional Content
(2015-08-28) Marling, Mary Ruth Rebecca; Goel, Vinod
Conditional reasoning has been widely studied in the cognitive literature, and in the past decade, neuroimaging studies have started to investigate brain networks recruited to solve these logical conditionals. A meta-analysis of these neuroimaging studies of healthy adults has shown that conditional arguments are primarily associated with left-lateralized activation in the parietal and frontal lobes. Beyond logical form, content factors such as belief- logic congruency, familiarity, and emotion have been shown to recruit networks different from the main effect of reasoning. To date, conditional connectives have not been investigated using traumatic brain injury patients, therefore, the goal of this thesis was to study the effect of brain lesions on conditional reasoning. A whole brain analysis using voxel-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM) was conducted on 72 neurological patients with unilateral lesions in order to explore the impact of brain lesions on reasoning accuracy scores. Results indicated that conditional reasoning with familiar content is highly dependent on left hemisphere intactness, whereas right hemisphere volume loss does not inhibit performance and in some conditions may even lead to improved performance. In particular, we found that familiar believable content failed to benefit patients with left hemisphere lesions. Additionally, VLSM analysis isolated a region in the left medial prefrontal cortex deemed necessary for reasoning with emotional content, the 10 patients with lesions in this cluster performed significantly worse than all other patients and controls on emotional conditionals. Our findings provide additional evidence that reasoning processes involving familiar content are largely left lateralized and that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex is specifically engaged in reasoning about emotional content. This is the first study to use a lesion analysis to investigate conditionals, and thus contributes important new information to the existing neuroimaging literature.
Open Access
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Alleviates Stress and Depression in Adults with Chronic Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial
(2017-07-27) Paneduro, Denise; Wiseheart, Melody S.
The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in improving attention and pain-related outcomes, using a randomized controlled trial. Secondary aims included evaluating changes in mindfulness and pain acceptance following MBSR training and their role in improving outcomes, exploring the role of homework adherence in enhanced outcomes, and assessing stability of improvements long-term at 3-months follow up. Forty-nine adults with chronic pain between 18 and 80 years of age were randomized to an 8-week MBSR group or a Waitlist Control (WC) group that was then crossed over into the MBSR treatment. Outcome measures included pain intensity, pain disability, depression, anxiety, stress, mindfulness, pain acceptance, and performance on a change blindness task. Measures were administered prior to treatment, following the wait period for the WC group, following MBSR treatment, and 3-months subsequent to MBSR treatment completion. It was hypothesized that the MBSR group would demonstrate significant improvements in these outcomes, with the exception of pain severity, following treatment relative to the waitlist control group and that these benefits would be maintained at follow up. Linear regression analyses using changes scores of the outcomes revealed significantly greater reductions from pre-to-post treatment in the MBSR group compared to the WC group in depression and stress (ps < .05), and increases in mindfulness (p < .01). Multiple linear regression analyses using the entire sample demonstrated that increases in mindfulness significantly predicted decreases in depression (p < .05) and stress (p < .01) and increases in pain acceptance was significantly predictive of decreases in pain disability (p < .05). Significant correlations were obtained between the number of days engaging in practice and stress, pain acceptance, and attention. Benefits observed at post-treatment were maintained at 3-months follow up. Results suggest that mindfulness-based approaches can be integrated in pain clinics to facilitate patient recovery by reducing emotional distress.
Open Access
Modelling a Fractionated System of Deductive Reasoning over Categorical Syllogisms
(2018-03-01) Giovannini, Gregory; Goel, Vinod
The study of deductive reasoning has been a major research paradigm in psychology for decades. Recent additions to this literature have focused heavily on neuropsychological evidence. Such a practice is useful for identifying regions associated with particular functions, but fails to clearly define the specific interactions and timescale of these functions. Computational modelling provides a method for creating different cognitive architectures for simulating deductive processes, and ultimately determining which architectures are capable of modelling human reasoning. This thesis details a computational model for solving categorical syllogisms utilizing a fractionated system of brain regions. Lesions are applied to formal and heuristic systems to simulate accuracy and reaction time data for bi-lateral parietal and frontotemporal patients. The model successfully combines belief-bias and other known cognitive biases with a mental models formal approach to recreate the congruency by group effect present in the human data. Implications are drawn to major theories of reasoning.