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Related Experiment Videos

Co-reference and reasoning.

Clare R Walsh1, P N Johnson-Laird

  • 1Department of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences, Brown University, Box 1978, Providence, RI 02912, USA. clare_walsh@brown.edu

Memory & Cognition
|April 14, 2004
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Co-reference, where multiple phrases refer to the same individual, enhances reasoning accuracy and speed. However, this cognitive shortcut can lead to illusory inferences, drawing invalid conclusions.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Linguistics
  • Human Reasoning

Background:

  • Co-reference is a linguistic phenomenon where multiple noun phrases denote the same entity.
  • Understanding co-reference is crucial for comprehending complex sentences and inferential reasoning.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of co-reference on the accuracy and speed of human inferential reasoning.
  • To examine how shared co-referents between premises and conclusions influence reasoning outcomes.
  • To explore the potential for co-reference to induce illusory inferences.

Main Methods:

  • Three experiments were conducted comparing co-referential reasoning problems with problems involving distinct referents.
  • Participants solved inferential problems under varying co-reference conditions.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Reading times, inference times, and accuracy rates were measured.

    • Main Results:

    • Co-reference significantly improved reasoning accuracy compared to distinct referents.
    • Co-reference accelerated both reading and inference processes.
    • The strongest effects of co-reference were observed when premises and conclusions shared co-referents, leading to illusory inferences.

    Conclusions:

    • Co-reference acts as a cognitive heuristic that facilitates faster and more accurate reasoning.
    • Despite its benefits, co-reference can systematically bias reasoning, resulting in illusory inferences.
    • Findings support the mental model theory of reasoning, explaining how co-reference influences cognitive processes.