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Related Experiment Videos

Syllogistic reasoning time: disconfirmation disconfirmed.

Valerie A Thompson1, Christopher L Striemer, Rhett Reikoff

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. valerie.thompson@usask.ca

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|May 16, 2003
PubMed
Summary

Contrary to the disconfirmation hypothesis in deductive reasoning, this study found that believable conclusions took longer to process than unbelievable ones. Participants generated an equal number of mental representations for both types of conclusions.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Human Reasoning

Background:

  • Deductive reasoning models often assume more cognitive effort is applied to unbelievable conclusions to facilitate disconfirmation.
  • This 'disconfirmation hypothesis' suggests reasoners scrutinize unbelievable outcomes more intensely than believable ones.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To test the disconfirmation hypothesis's predictions regarding processing time and model generation in deductive reasoning.
  • To investigate whether conclusion believability influences logical analysis and representation formation.

Main Methods:

  • Participants' reasoning processes were observed while solving problems with varying conclusion believability.
  • Data collected included reasoning time and the number of mental models or representations generated.

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Main Results:

  • Reasoners spent significantly more time processing believable conclusions compared to unbelievable ones.
  • The number of representations generated was consistent across both believable and unbelievable conclusions, contradicting the disconfirmation hypothesis.

Conclusions:

  • The disconfirmation hypothesis does not adequately explain deductive reasoning patterns.
  • A revised verbal reasoning theory is proposed, which does not rely on the assumption that reasoners attempt to disconfirm unbelievable conclusions.