Logical form as a determinant of cognitive processes

  • Authors:

  • Michiel Van Lambalgen

  • Affiliations:

  • ILLC/Department of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam

  • Venue:
  • WoLLIC'10 Proceedings of the 17th international conference on Logic, language, information and computation
  • Year:
  • 2010

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

We discuss a research program on reasoning patterns in subjects with autism, showing that they fail to engage in certain forms of non-monotonic reasoning that come naturally to neurotypical subjects. The striking reasoning patterns of autists occur both in verbal and in non-verbal tasks. Upon formalising the relevant non-verbal tasks, one sees that their logical form is the same as that of the verbal tasks. This suggests that logical form can play a causal role in cognitive processes, and we suggest that this logical form is actually embodied in the cognitive capacity called 'executive function'.