Formal notations are diagrams: evidence from a production task
David Landy1, Robert L Goldtone
1Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA. dlandy@indiana.edu
Memory & Cognition
|February 13, 2008
Summary
Formal notations, like logic and arithmetic, are understood as diagrams, not just abstract symbols. This study reveals that spatial reasoning underlies our ability to process these complex symbolic systems.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Psychology
- Linguistics
Background:
- Humans and animals possess basic numerosity skills.
- Formal reasoning with large quantities and complex symbolic notations is uniquely human.
- Current theories propose symbolic notations are built via rule-based concatenation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if spatial representational schemes are involved in processing symbolic notations.
- To establish that formal notations function as diagrams.
Main Methods:
- Behavioral measures were used on naturalistic tasks.
- Examined self-generated handwritten arithmetic expressions.
- Analyzed self-generated typewritten formal logic statements.
Main Results:
- Found substantial evidence for spatial representational schemes in symbolic notation tasks.
- Spatial schemes were evident in both arithmetic and formal logic domains.
- Demonstrated that spatial cognition supports symbolic representation.
Conclusions:
- Formal notations are processed using spatial representational schemes.
- Symbolic systems, like diagrams, leverage cognitive resources for spatial relations.
- This suggests a deeper connection between spatial reasoning and formal thought.
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