How our brains reason logically

Author: Knauff, Markus

Source: Topoi, Volume 26, Number 1, March 2007 , pp. 19-36(18)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

The aim of this article is to strengthen links between cognitive brain research and formal logic. The work covers three fundamental sorts of logical inferences: reasoning in the propositional calculus, i.e. inferences with the conditional “if...then”, reasoning in the predicate calculus, i.e. inferences based on quantifiers such as “all”, “some”, “none”, and reasoning with n-place relations. Studies with brain-damaged patients and neuroimaging experiments indicate that such logical inferences are implemented in overlapping but different bilateral cortical networks, including parts of the fronto-temporal cortex, the posterior parietal cortex, and the visual cortices. I argue that these findings show that we do not use a single deterministic strategy for solving logical reasoning problems. This account resolves many disputes about how humans reason logically and why we sometimes deviate from the norms of formal logic.

Keywords: Logical thinking; Reasoning; Brain; Mental models; Mental logic

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11245-006-9002-8

Affiliations: 1: Email: markus.knauff@psychol.uni-giessen.de

Publication date: 2007-03-01