Memória de trabalho e inferência silogística: Estudo exploratório de novas medidas (*)

 

 

JOÃO GUERREIRO (**)

ANA CRISTINA QUELHAS (**)

JUAN A. GARCÍA-MADRUGA (***)

 

 

RESUMO

Na presente investigação procurou-se estudar as relações entre a memória de trabalho e o raciocínio dedutivo a partir da perspectiva das diferenças individuais (i.e. saber se o desempenho em tarefas raciocínio pode ser previsto a partir da capacidade de memória de trabalho). Nesse sentido, são usados problemas de raciocínio silogístico que diferem em termos do nível de exigência cognitiva previsto pela teoria dos modelos mentais (e.g. Johnson-Laird & Byrne, 1991). A memória de trabalho é avaliada, não apenas a partir do clássico teste de amplitude de leitura (Daneman & Carpenter, 1980), ao qual recentemente se tem dirigido críticas, mas também a partir de duas medidas desenvolvidas por García-Madruga e colaboradores (v. García-Madruga et al., 2003) baseadas em problemas anafóricos e analógicos. Nestes dois tipos de tarefas (i.e. memória de trabalho e raciocínio silogístico) participaram 60 estudantes universitários. Os resultados obtidos permitem corroborar as previsões que efectuámos sustentadas na teoria dos modelos mentais, i.e., os indivíduos revelaram maiores dificuldades nos problemas que requerem a construção de um maior número de modelos mentais e os participantes com maior capacidade de memória de trabalho apresentaram também um desempenho superior na tarefa de raciocínio.

Palavras-chave: Memória de trabalho, inferência silogística, Teoria dos Modelos Mentais.

 

 

ABSTRACT

The present study envisages the relationship between working memory and syllogistic reasoning from an individual differences perspective (i.e. whether or not the performance on the reasoning task can be predicted from the working memory capacity). A group of syllogistic inference problems were used. These problems differed in terms of cognitive demands (i.e. one vs. two mental models) according to the mental model theory (e.g. Johnson-Laird & Byrne, 1991). The working memory capacity was measured not only by the classic reading span test but also, as several critics have been recently addressed to functionality of this measure in these kinds of studies, two new measures based on analogical and anaphorical problems were used (cf. García-Madruga et al., 2003). In these two sorts of tasks (i.e. working memory and syllogistic reasoning tasks) participated 60 students. The main suppositions of the mental model theory were confirmed in terms of accuracy, i.e., multiple mental models problems showed more difficulties to participants than single-model ones and participants with higher resources in terms of working memory capacity showed also better performance on the syllogistic reasoning task.

Key words: Working memory, syllogistic inference, Mental Model Theory.

 

 

Texto completo disponível apenas em PDF.

Full text only available in PDF format.

 

 

REFERÊNCIAS

Anderson, J. R. (1995). Cognitive psychology and its implications (4th ed.). New York: W. H. Freeman & Company.         [ Links ]

Atkinson, R., & Schiffrin, R. (1968). Human memory: A proposed system and its control processes. In K. W. Spence, & J. J. Spence (Eds.), Advances in the psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 2). New York: Academic Press.

Baddeley, A. (1997). Human memory: Theory and practice (Revised Edition). Hove: Psychology Press.

Baddeley, A. (2000a). Short-term and working memory. In E. Tulving, & F. Craik (Eds.), Oxford handbook of memory (pp. 77-92). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Baddeley, A. (2000b). The episodic buffer: a new component of working memory? Trends in Cognitive Science, 4, 417-423.

Baddeley, A., & Hitch, G. J. (1974). Working memory. In G. Bower (Ed.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation (pp. 47-89). New York: Academic Press.

Barahona, C. A. F. (2004). El papel de la representación en el desarrollo del razonamiento deductivo (Tese de Doutoramento). Granada: Universidad de Granada.

Bower, G. (2000). Brief history of memory research. In E. Tulving, & F. Craik (Eds.), Oxford handbook of memory (pp. 3-32). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Braine, M. D. S., & O’Brien, D. P. (1991). A theory of If: A lexical entry, reasoning program, and pragmatic principles. Psychological Review, 98, 182-203.

Capon, A., Handley, S., & Denis, I. (2003). Working memory and reasoning: An individual differences perspective. Thinking and Reasoning, 9 (3), 203-244.

Cochran, W. G. (1977). Sampling techniques (3rd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Daly, F., Hand, D. J., Jones, M. C., Lunn, A. D., & McConway, K. J. (1995). Elements of Statistics. Avon: Open University.

Daneman, M., & Carpenter, P. A. (1980). Individual differences in working memory and reading. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 19, 450-466.

Elosúa, M. R., Gutiérrez, F., García-Madruga, J. A., Luque, J. L., & Garate, M. (1996). Versión española del “Reading Span Test” de Daneman y Carpenter. Psicothema, 8 (2), 383-395.

Evans, J. St. B. T., Newstead, S. E., & Byrne, R. M. J. (1993). Human reasoning: The psychology of deduction. Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

García-Madruga, J. A. (1989). Comprensión e inferencia en el razonamiento silogístico. Cognitiva, 2 (3), 323-350.

García-Madruga, J. A., Gutiérrez, F., Carriedo, N., Luzón, J. M., & Vila, J. O. (2005). Working memory and propositional reasoning: Searching for new memory tests. In V. Girotto, & P. N. Johnson-Laird (Eds.), The shape of reason: Essays in honour of Paolo Legrenzi. Hove: Psychology Press.

Gathercole, S., & Baddeley, A. (1993). Working memory and language. Hove: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.

Gilhooly, K. J., Logie, R. H., Wetherick, N. E., & Wynn, V. (1993). Working memory and strategies in syllogistic-reasoning tasks. Memory and Cognition, 21 (1), 115-124.

Gilhooly, K. J., Logie, R. H., & Wynn, V. (1999). Syllogistic reasoning tasks, working memory and skill. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 11 (4), 473-498.

Guéguen, N. (1999). Manual de estatística para psicólogos. Lisboa: Climepsi Editores.

Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1983). Mental models: Towards a cognitive science of language, inference and consciousness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Johnson-Laird, P. N. (2000). The current state of mental model theory. In J. A. García-Madruga, N. Carrie-do, & M. J. González-Labra (Eds.), Mental models in reasoning (pp. 17-40). Madrid: UNED Ediciones.

Johnson-Laird, P. N., & Bara, B. (1984). Syllogistic inference. Cognition, 16, 1-61.

Johnson-Laird, P. N., & Byrne, R. M. J. (1991). Deduction. Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Klauer, K. C., Stegmaier, R., & Meiser, T. (1997). Working memory involvement in prepositional and spatial reasoning. Thinking and Reasoning, 3, 9-48.

Manketelow, K. I., & Cheung Chung, M. C. (2004). The contextual character of thought: Integrating themes from the histories and theories of the study of reasoning. In K. I. Manketelow, & M. C. Cheung Chung (Eds.), Psychology of Reasoning: Theoretical and historical perspectives (pp. 1-9). Hove: Psychology Press.

Markovits, H., Doyon, C., & Simoneau, M. (2002). Individual differences in working memory and conditional reasoning with concrete and abstract content. Thinking and Reasoning, 8 (2), 97-107.

Mateus, M. H. M., Brito, A. M., Duarte, I., Faria, I. H., Frota, S., Matos, G., Oliveira, F., Vigário, M., & Villalva, A. (2003). Gramática da língua portuguesa (5.ª ed.). Lisboa: Editorial Caminho.

Meilán, E. M., García-Madruga, J. A., & Viero, P. (2000). Memoria operativa y procesos de razonamiento condicional. Cognitiva, 12 (2), 135-151.

Quelhas, A. C. (1996). Raciocínio condicional: Modelos mentais e esquemas pragmáticos. Lisboa: ISPA.

Quelhas, A. C., & Byrne, R. M. J. (2000). Counter-factual conditionals: Reasoning latencies. In J. A. García-Madruga, N. Carriedo, & M. J. González-Labra (Eds.), Mental models in reasoning (pp. 315-325). Madrid: UNED Ediciones.

Toms, M., Morris, N., & Ward, D. (1993). Working memory and conditional reasoning. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 46A, 679-699.

Rips, L. J. (1994). The psychology of proof: Deductive reasoning in human thinking. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Tirre, W., & Pena, C. (1992). Investigation of functional working memory in the reading span test. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84, 462-472.

Waters, G. S., & Caplan, D. (1996). The measurement of verbal working memory and its relation to reading comprehension. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 49A (1), 51-79.

Woodworth, R. S., & Sells, S. B. (1935). An atmosphere effect in formal syllogistic reasoning. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18, 451-460.

Woodworth, R. S., & Schlosberg, H. (1954). Experimental Psychology. New York: Henry Holt.

 

 

(*) Os resultados do presente estudo foram parcialmente apresentados no Congresso Hispano-Português de Psicologia (Lisboa, Setembro de 2004) e no Congresso Europeu de Psicologia (Granada, Julho de 2005). Esta investigação foi parcialmente subsidiada pela FCT (plurianual n.º 2333) e pelo Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia – Proyecto: BSO2003-02103.

(**) Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, Lisboa, Portugal.

(***) Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Facultad de Psicología, Madrid, Espanha.