Abstract
This study, a tribute to Aristotle's 2400 years, used a juxtaposition of valid Aristotelian arguments to the paradoxes formulated by Zeno the Eleatic, in order to investigate the electrophysiological correlates of attentional and /or memory processing effects in the course of deductive reasoning. Participants undertook reasoning tasks based on visually presented arguments which were either (a) valid (Aristotelian) statements or (b) paradoxes. We compared brain activation patterns while participants maintained the premises / conclusions of either the valid statements or the paradoxes in working memory (WM). Event-related brain potentials (ERPs), specifically the P300 component of ERPs, were recorded during the WM phase, during which participants were required to draw a logical conclusion regarding the correctness of the valid syllogisms or the paradoxes. During the processing of paradoxes, results demonstrated a more positive event-related potential deflection (P300) across frontal regions, whereas processing of valid statements was associated with noticeable P300 amplitudes across parieto-occipital regions. These findings suggest that paradoxes mobilize frontal attention mechanisms, while valid deduction promotes parieto-occipital activity associated with attention and/or subsequent memory processing.
Highlights
Reasoning ability is the vehicle of extrapolation based on the available information, even when is incomplete
Taking into consideration the findings presented above, we elected to focus on the auditory P300 component while participants were required to draw a logical conclusion regarding the correctness of valid syllogisms or paradoxes
This study was approved by the Ethics committee of University Mental Health Research Institute (UMHRI)
Summary
Reasoning ability is the vehicle of extrapolation based on the available information, even when is incomplete. Deductive reasoning allows the formulation of relationships between premises and potential conclusions and is a hallmark of higher cognition. The brain mechanisms underlying it remain obscure [1,2]. Logical reasoning is usually assessed by tasks in which participants are instructed to judge as quickly as possible the logical validity of syllogisms consisting of two statements (the premises) and a conclusion. An example of the two premises of a syllogism would be: “All men are mortal”; “All Athenians are men”. Aristotle concluded that these premises imply with absolute certainty that “All Athenians are mortal” [3]
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