Automatic activation of categorical and abstract analogical relations in analogical reasoning

We examined activation of concepts during analogical reasoning. Subjects made either analogical judgments or categorical judgments about four-word sets. After each four-word set, they named the ink color of a single word in a modified Stroop task. Words that referred to category relations were prime...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Memory & cognition 2006-10, Vol.34 (7), p.1414-1421
Main Authors: GREEN, Adam E, FUGELSANG, Jonathan A, DUNBAR, Kevin N
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Automatism
Biological and medical sciences
Cognition
Cognition & reasoning
Cognition. Intelligence
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Hypotheses
Intelligence tests
Judgment
Male
Paradigms
Problem Solving
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reaction Time
Reasoning. Problem solving
Roles
Semantic relations
Semantics
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Summary:We examined activation of concepts during analogical reasoning. Subjects made either analogical judgments or categorical judgments about four-word sets. After each four-word set, they named the ink color of a single word in a modified Stroop task. Words that referred to category relations were primed (as indicated by longer response times on Stroop color naming) subsequent to analogical judgments and categorical judgments. This finding suggests that activation of category concepts plays a fundamental role in analogical thinking. When colored words referred to analogical relations, priming occurred subsequent to analogical judgments, but not to categorical judgments, even though identical four-word stimuli were used for both types of judgments. This finding lends empirical support to the hypothesis that, when people comprehend the analogy between two items, they activate an abstract analogical relation that is distinct from the specific content items that compose the analogy.
ISSN:0090-502X
1532-5946
DOI:10.3758/bf03195906