Abstract
The paper presents the conjunctive bias in memory—a novel phenomenon that helps to clarify representations of logical connectives. The conjunctive bias is a tendency toward more accurate recall and recognition of conjunctive forms than of forms based on other logical connectives and a tendency to recall and recognize other logical forms as if they were conjunctions. Three experiments, in which participants’ memory representations associated with different logical connectives were examined, were conducted to test the conjunctive bias hypothesis. In Experiment 1, participants learned picture-proposition pairs involving either conjunctions or disjunctions and then had to recall each proposition when cued with its picture. In Experiments 2 and 3, recognition memory for conjunctions, disjunctions, and conditionals was examined with an old/new recognition procedure. The findings of these experiments provide evidence for the conjunctive bias. Furthermore, the results of Experiment 3 suggest that conjunctive bias is not simply a pragmatically caused preference for conjunctions. The discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for current theories of deductive reasoning.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bauer, M. I., &Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1993). How diagrams can improve reasoning.Psychological Science,4, 372–378.
Begg, I., &Wickelgren, W. A. (1974). Retention functions for syntactic and lexical vs semantic information in sentence recognition memory.Memory & Cognition,2, 353–359.
Braine, M. D. S., &O’Brien, D. P. (1991). A theory of if: A lexical entry, reasoning program, and pragmatic principles.Psychological Review,98, 182–203.
Braine, M. D. S., &O’Brien, D. P. (1998).Mental logic. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Braine, M. D. S., Reiser, B. J., &Rumain, B. (1984). Some empirical justification for a theory of natural propositional logic. In G. H. Bower (Ed.),The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 18, pp. 317–371). New York: Academic Press.
Byrne, R. M. J., &Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1992). The spontaneous use of propositional connectives.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,45A, 89–110.
Byrne, R. M. J., &Tasso, A. (1999). Deductive reasoning with factual, possible, and counterfactual conditionals.Memory & Cognition,27, 726–740.
Caron, J., Micko, H. C., &Thüring, M. (1988). Conjunctions and the recall of composite sentences.Journal of Memory & Language,27, 309–323.
Dosher, B. A. (1983). Relational information in sentence memory.Journal of Psycholinguistic Research,12, 377–396.
Evans, J. S. (2000). What could and could not be a strategy in reasoning. In W. Schaeken, G. De Vooght, A. Vandierendonck, & G. d’Ydewalle (Eds.),Deductive reasoning and strategies (pp. 1–22). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Evans, J. S., Clibbens, J., &Rood, B. (1995). Bias in conditional inference: Implications for mental models and mental logic.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,48A, 644–670.
Evans, J. S., Handley, S. J., Harper, C. N. J., &Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1999). Reasoning about necessity and possibility: A test of the mental model theory of deduction.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,25, 1495–1513.
Evans, J. S., Newstead, S. E., &Byrne, R. M. J. (1993).Human reasoning: The psychology of deduction. Hove, U.K.: Erlbaum.
Evans, J. S., &Over, D. E. (1996).Rationality and reasoning. Hove, U.K.: Erlbaum.
Fillenbaum, S. (1971). On coping with ordered and unordered conjunctive sentences.Journal of Experimental Psychology,87, 93–98.
Fillenbaum, S. (1974a). Or: Some uses.Journal of Experimental Psychology,103, 913–921.
Fillenbaum, S. (1974b). Pragmatic normalization: Further results for some conjunctive and disjunctive sentences.Journal of Experimental Psychology,102, 574–578.
Fletcher, C. R., Chrysler, S. T., van den Broek, P., Deaton, J. A., &Bloom, C. P. (1995). The role of co-occurrence, coreference, and causality in the coherence of conjoined sentences. In R. F. Lorch & E. J. O’Brien (Eds.),Sources of coherence in reading (pp. 203–218). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Gernsbacher, M. A. (1997). Coherence cues mapping during comprehension In J. Costermans & M. Fayol (Eds.),Processing interclausal relationships: Studies in the production and comprehension of text (pp. 3–21). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1999). Deductive reasoning.Annual Review of Psychology,50, 109–135.
Johnson-Laird, P. N., &Byrne, R. M. J. (1991).Deduction. Hove, U.K.: Erlbaum.
Johnson-Laird, P. N., Byrne, R. M. J., &Schaeken, W. (1992). Propositional reasoning by model.Psychological Review,99, 418–439.
Johnson-Laird, P. N., Savary, F., &Bucciarelli, M. (2000). Strategies and tactics in reasoning. In W. Schaeken, G. De Vooght, A. Vandierendonck, & G. d’Ydewalle (Eds.),Deductive reasoning and strategies (pp. 209–240). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Kintsch, W. (1998).Comprehension: A paradigm for cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Klauer, K. C., &Oberauer, K. (1995). Testing the mental model theory of propositional reasoning.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,48A, 671–687.
Lakoff, R. (1971). If’s, and’s, and but’s about conjunction. In C. J. Fillmore & D. T. Langendoen (Eds.),Studies in linguistic semantics (pp. 114–149). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Lea, R. B. (1995). On-line evidence for elaborative logical inferences in text.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,21, 1469–1482.
Lea, R. B., O’Brien, D. P., Fisch, S. M., Noveck, I. A., &Braine, M. D. S. (1990). Predicting propositional logic inferences in text comprehension.Journal of Memory & Language,29, 361–387.
McKoon, G., &Ratcliff, R. (1992). Inference during reading.Psychological Review,99, 440–466.
Millis, K. K., Golding, J. M., &Barker, G. (1995). Causal connectives increase inference generation.Discourse Processes,20, 29–49.
Murray, J. D. (1997). Connectives and narrative text: The role of continuity.Memory & Cognition,25, 227–236.
Politzer, G. (1986). Laws of language use and formal logic.Journal of Psycholinguistic Research,15, 47–92.
Polk, T. A., &Newell, A. (1995). Deduction as verbal reasoning.Psychological Review,102, 533–566.
Rader, A. W., & Sloutsky, V. S. (in press). Processing of logically valid and logically invalid conditional inferences in discourse comprehension.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition.
Rips, L. (1994).The psychology of proof: Deductive reasoning in human thinking. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Sachs, J. S. (1974). Memory in reading and listening to discourse.Memory & Cognition,2, 95–100.
Schmerling, S. F. (1975). Asymmetric conjunction and rules of conversation. In P. Cole & J. L. Morgan (Eds.),Syntax and semantics: Vol. 3. Speech acts (pp. 211–231). New York: Academic Press.
Sloutsky, V. M., &Goldvarg, Y. (1999). Effects of externalization on representation of indeterminate problems. In M. Hahn & S. Stones (Eds.),Proceedings of the XXI Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 695–700). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
SuperLab Pro (Version 1.05) (1997). [Computer software]. Phoenix, AZ: Cedrus Corporation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Additional information
This research was supported in part by a grant from the James S. Mc-Donnell Foundation to the second author and by a Summer Fellowship awarded by the Center for Cognitive Science at Ohio State University to the first author.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rader, A., Sloutsky, V. Conjunctive bias in memory representations of logical connectivesa. Memory & Cognition 29, 838–849 (2001). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196413
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196413