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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Camillo Porcaro, Dr Maria Medaglia
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Contradiction is a cornerstone of human rationality, essential for everyday life and communication. We investigated electroencephalographic (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in separate recording sessions during contradictory judgments, using a logical structure based on categorical propositions of the Aristotelian Square of Opposition (ASoO). The use of ASoO propositions, while controlling for potential linguistic or semantic confounds, enabled us to observe the spatial temporal unfolding of this contradictory reasoning. The processing started with the inversion of the logical operators corresponding to right middle frontal gyrus (rMFG-BA11) activation, followed by identification of contradictory statement associated with in the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG-BA47) activation. Right medial frontal gyrus (rMeFG, BA10) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, BA32) contributed to the later stages of process. We observed a correlation between the delayed latency of rBA11 response and the reaction time delay during inductive vs. deductive reasoning. This supports the notion that rBA11 is crucial for manipulating the logical operators. Slower processing time and stronger brain responses for inductive logic suggested that examples are easier to process than general principles and are more likely to simplify communication.
Author(s): Porcaro C, Medaglia MT, Thai NJ, Seri S, Rotshtein P, Tecchio F
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: PLoS One
Year: 2014
Volume: 9
Print publication date: 25/03/2014
Acceptance date: 26/02/2014
Date deposited: 28/08/2014
ISSN (electronic): 1932-6203
Publisher: Public Library of Science
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0092835
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0092835
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