Raciocínio condicional : O uso de modelos mentais influenciados pelo acesso da informação na memória

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2006

RESUMO

This study investigates conditional reasoning within the mental model framework and the influences of semantic memory. Conclusions in conditional reasoning are explained in terms of mental models for the If P then Q rule, according to Johnson-Laird (2001). However, mental model theory has explored very little on the elaboration of additional models which could allow refuting preliminary conclusions. This study explores the processes that might influence those models production. Three main hypotheses were tested: 1) associative strength and set size influence the activation and searching of counterexamples in semantic memory; 2) the reduction of the semantic field influences conditional interpretations, and 3) inferences with higher levels of complexity are associated with higher levels of errors due to working memory processing limits. Two dependent variables were collected: decisions for conditional reasoning problems and confident judgments for those decisions. The experimental hypotheses were tested on 3 experiments applying a mixed factorial design. Associative strength (strong, weak) was manipulated between subjects and set size (large, small) and inference type (modus pones, modus tollens, affirmation of the consequent, denial of the antecedent) were manipulated within subjects. Experiment 1 tested 66 participants for 48 conditional problems that included categories and members collected through norms of free association. Experiment 2 tested 59 participants for 36 conditional problems using norms of categories contextualized in sentences. In Experiment 3, 45 students were tested on the Wasons selection task. Group testing was administered in Experiments 1-2, and individual testing in Experiment 3. The experiments showed that associative strength collected with and without context, and inference type influenced conditional reasoning. The first experiment showed that small categories and strong category members were associated to modus ponens and modus tollens decisions. Results from the second experiment showed that weak members from contextualized categories were related to adequate conditional decisions. Results for the Wasons selection task replicated previous studies: subjects were more likely to produce modus ponens and affirmation of the consequent decisions. Higher confidence judgments were observed for modus ponens decisions. Results are discussed as evidences favoring working memory processing limitations. Also, it has been showed that conditional reasoning is influenced by the activation probability of counter-examples as measured by associative strenght and category set size.

ASSUNTO(S)

modelos mentais raciocínio (psicologia) category set size raciocínio condicional conditional reasoning associative strength tamanho da categoria (raciocínio) psicologia memória psicologia cognitiva -força associativa (raciocínio) mental models

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