Environmental influences on neural systems of relational complexity

Abstract

Constructivist learning theory contends that we construct knowledge by experience and that environmental context influences learning. To explore this principle, we examined the cognitive process relational complexity (RC), defined as the number of visual dimensions considered during problem solving on a matrix reasoning task and a well-documented measure of mature reasoning capacity. We sought to determine how the visual environment influences RC by examining the influence of color and visual contrast on RC in a neuroimaging task. To specify the contributions of sensory demand and relational integration to reasoning, our participants performed a non-verbal matrix task comprised of color, no-color line, or black-white visual contrast conditions parametrically varied by complexity (relations 0, 1, 2). The use of matrix reasoning is ecologically valid for its psychometric relevance and for its potential to link the processing of psychophysically specific visual properties with various levels of RC during reasoning. The role of these elements is important because matrix tests assess intellectual aptitude based on these seemingly context-less exercises. This experiment is a first step toward examining the psychophysical underpinnings of performance on these types of problems. The importance of this is increased in light of recent evidence that intelligence can be linked to visual discrimination. We submit three main findings. First, color and black-white visual contrast (BWVC) add demand at a basic sensory level, but contributions from color and from BWVC are dissociable in cortex such that color engages a "reasoning heuristic" and BWVC engages a "sensory heuristic." Second, color supports contextual sense-making by boosting salience resulting in faster problem solving. Lastly, when visual complexity reaches 2-relations, color and visual contrast relinquish salience to other dimensions of problem solving.

General and specialized brain correlates for analogical reasoning: A meta‐analysis of functional imaging studies

“…Indeed, analogy tasks are usually composed of 4 terms (A:B as C:D) [or sometimes 6 terms for visuospatial analogies; Geake and Hansen, 2010;Volle et al, 2010;Watson and Chatterjee, 2012], whereas matrix tasks usually display a 3-by-3 (or 3-by-2) matrix of terms. Thus, the greater visuospatial processing requirement in matrix problems could explain the additional recruitment of visuospatial regions and the attentional network [Kalbfleisch et al, 2013].…”

“…The most frequently reported regions in these studies were the dorsolateral PFC [Christoff et al, ; Hampshire et al, ; Krawczyk et al, ; Kroger et al, ; Perfetti et al, ] sometimes extending to the rlPFC [Christoff et al, 2001; Golde et al, ; Hampshire et al, ; Krawczyk et al, 2011, see also Wendelken et al, ; Yamada et al, 2012], the premotor cortex [Golde et al, ; Kalbfleisch et al, ; Krawczyk et al, 2011; Perfetti et al, ; Yamada et al, ], and posterior parietal areas [Hampshire et al, ; Krawczyk et al, 2011; Perfetti et al, ]. Some studies have also shown the involvement of the lateral occipitotemporal regions [Hampshire et al, ; Kalbfleisch et al, ; Yamada et al, ], the anterior cingulate cortex [Kroger et al, ; Shokri‐Kojori et al, ], and the cerebellum [Kalbfleisch et al, ]. A recent and comprehensive review indicated that four‐term analogies and matrix problems might engage differentially the left and right rlPFC [Krawczyk, ].…”

“…These operations are often investigated using other relational reasoning tasks, the matrix problem tasks such as Raven's Progressives Matrices [Raven, 1941]. Matrix problems typically require the consideration and integration of visuospatial relationships to infer logical, geometrical, or mathematical rules [Kalbfleisch et al, 2013[Kalbfleisch et al, , 2007Shokri-Kojori et al, 2012;Yamada et al, 2012]. Matrix problem tasks thus share several cognitive processes with analogy tasks, such as relational comparison, integration, and schema inference.…”