Syllogistic Inference Chains in Meaningful Text

Abstract

Deductive reasoning can be described as a process that constructs and evaluates argument structures in working memory. Specific assumptions about this process generate predictions concerning the processes evoked by syllogistic arguments encountered in reading meaningful text. Four experiments examined these processes. Subjects read meaningful texts that included syllogistic inference chains, then answered questions requiring memory retrieval or deductive inference. The order in which premises appeared in the passages varied, as did the presence of prequestions corresponding to the memory or inference test questions