Logic implementation in human reasoning : the psychology of syllogisms
This thesis presents a novel account of syllogistic reasoning, based on data from a non-standard reasoning task called the Individuals Task. An abstract logical treatment of the system, based on a modalised Euler Circles system (Stenning & Oberlander 1994, 1995) is presented, and it is shown that this can be implemented in a diverse range of notationally distinct ways. The Individual Identification Algorithm, as this method is called, makes use of a logical distinction between the premisses of the syllogism; one has an existential, assertive role, and is called the <I>source premiss, </I>whereas the function of the other is to license inference, and so it is called the <I>conditional premiss. </I>This distinction is central to the way the IIA employs modal information to make the use of Euler Circles tractable. The empirical parts of the thesis are concerned with relating the distinction between source and conditional premisses to the Figural Effect (Johnson-Laird & Steedman 1978). It is argued that the Figural Effect is reducible to a tendency for the terms from the source premiss to occur before the terms from the conditional premiss in Individual Conclusions. Sine these are comprised of all three terms
Yule, Peter
Logic implementation in human reasoning : the psychology of syllogisms. This thesis presents a novel account of syllogistic reasoning, based on data from a non-standard reasoning task called the Individuals Task. An abstract logical treatment of the system, based on a modalised Euler Circles system (Stenning & Oberlander 1994, 1995) is presented, and it is shown that this can be implemented in a diverse range of notationally distinct ways. The Individual Identification Algorithm, as this method is called, makes use of a logical distinction between the premisses of the syllogism; one has an existential, assertive role, and is called the <I>source premiss, </I>whereas the function of the other is to license inference, and so it is called the <I>conditional premiss. </I>This distinction is central to the way the IIA employs modal information to make the use of Euler Circles tractable. The empirical parts of the thesis are concerned with relating the distinction between source and conditional premisses to the Figural Effect (Johnson-Laird & Steedman 1978). It is argued that the Figural Effect is reducible to a tendency for the terms from the source premiss to occur before the terms from the conditional premiss in Individual Conclusions. Sine these are comprised of all three terms
logic implementation human reasoning psychology syllogism present_novel account reasoning base data non_standard reason task call task abstract logical treatment system base system and present show implemented diverse_range distinct_way individual identification algorithm method call make_use logical distinction premiss syllogism existential assertive role call source premiss whereas function license inference call conditional premiss distinction central way employ modal information make_use empirical part_concern relate distinction source conditional premiss figural effect johnson laird argue figural effect reducible tendency term source premiss occur term conditional premiss individual conclusions comprise_three term