Response Times patterns support the Model Theory of Negation

GUILLERMO MACBETH; EUGENIA RAZUMIEJCZYK; MARÍA DEL CARMEN CRIVELLO; MAURO FIORAMONTI

Lima

Congreso; XXXV Congreso Interamericano de Psicología; 2015

Sociedad Interamericana de Psicología

To accountfor the use of negation in sentences like `It is not true that: Joyce wrote Ulysses and the Eiffel Tower is in Italy´ is a key issue for the currentpsychology of reasoning. The conjunction is false because Joyce actually wroteUlysses but the Eiffel Tower is in France, not in Italy. Hence, the negation ofsuch conjunction yields a true compound. A recent extension of the MentalModels Theory explains the meaning, use, and representation of negation. Wederived 7 novel response times´ predictions from this theory. The aim of thisstudy was to experimentally test such predictions. We used a within-subjectsdesign that manipulated materials and measured response times and responsetypes. The main results suggest that negating conjunctions requires more timethan negating disjunctions (hypothesis H1), that higher deductive performanceparticipants require less time than lower performance participants for negatingconjunctions (H2), disjunctions (H3), and compounds in general (H4), thathigher metacognitive quality also speeds up negations´ processing (H5, H6, H7).Our conclusion is that response time patterns support the model theory ofnegation. Other theories of reasoning cannot account for these findings.