title: Disabling conditional inferences: an EEG study.
abstract: Although the Modus Ponens inference is one of the most basic logical rules, decades of conditional reasoning research show that it is often rejected when people consider stored background knowledge about potential disabling conditions. In the present study we used EEG to identify neural markers of this process. We presented participants with many and few disabler conditionals for which retrieval of disabling conditions was likely or unlikely. As in classic behavioral studies we observed that participants accepted the standard MP conclusion less for conditionals with many disablers. The key finding was that the presentation of the standard MP conclusion also resulted in a more pronounced N2 and less pronounced P3b for the many disabler conditionals. This specific N2/P3b pattern has been linked to the violation and satisfaction of expectations, respectively. Thereby, the present ERP findings support the idea that disabler retrieval lowers reasoners' expectations that the standard MP conclusion can be drawn.
authors: Donders Institute, Radboud University, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Laboratoire sur le Langage, le Cerveau et la Cognition (L2C2), CNRS, Institut des Sciences Cognitives, Université de Lyon 1, France.
authors: Mathilde
authors: M
authors: Bonnefond
authors: Ecole Polytechique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors: Mariia
authors: M
authors: Kaliuzhna
authors: Laboratoire sur le Langage, le Cerveau et la Cognition (L2C2), CNRS, Institut des Sciences Cognitives, Université de Lyon 1, France.
authors: Jean-Baptiste
authors: JB
authors: Van der Henst
authors: CNRS, Unité 8240 LaPsyDÉ, France; Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Unité 8240 LaPsyDÉ, France; Université de Caen Basse-Normandie, Unité 8240 LaPsyDÉ, France. Electronic address: wim.de-neys@parisdescartes.fr.
authors: Wim
authors: W
authors: De Neys
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Decision making; EEG; ERP; N2; P3b; Reasoning