Toward Neuroanatomical Models of Analogy: A Positron Emission Tomography Study of Analogical Mapping

Regan

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior

et al. 2005

The current study aimed to test a Relational Frame Theory (RFT) model of analogical reasoning based on the relating of derived same and derived difference relations. Experiment 1 recorded reaction time measures of similar-similar (e.g., ''apple is to orange as dog is to cat'') versus different-different (e.g., ''he is to his brother as chalk is to cheese'') derived relational responding, in both speed-contingent and speed-noncontingent conditions. Experiment 2 examined the event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with these two response patterns. Both experiments showed similar-similar responding to be significantly faster than different-different responding. Experiment 2 revealed significant differences between the waveforms of the two response patterns in the left-hemispheric prefrontal regions; different-different waveforms were significantly more negative than similar-similar waveforms. The behavioral and neurophysiological data support the RFT prediction that, all things being equal, similar-similar responding is relationally ''simpler'' than, and functionally distinct from, differentdifferent analogical responding. The ERP data were fully consistent with findings in the neurocognitive literature on analogy. These findings strengthen the validity of the RFT model of analogical reasoning and supplement the behavior-analytic approach to analogy based on the relating of derived relations.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relating Derived Relations as a Model of Analogical Reasoning: Reaction Times and Event-Related Potentials

Regan

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior

et al. 2005

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

“…Wharton et al (2000) used positron emission tomography to investigate brain activation associated with solving geometric analogy problems. Participants judged whether two sets of objects were identical (literal condition) or analogous (analogy condition).…”

Section: Neural Substrate For Analogical Reasoningmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Neurocomputational Model of Analogical Reasoning and its Breakdown in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration

Morrison

Krawczyk

Holyoak

et al. 2004

150

144

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

“…This is in keeping with the findings of Glosser and Goodglass (1990), reporting that aphasic patients with left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex lesions are impaired on a nonverbal test of sustained attention and tasks requiring novel responses to visual patterns relative to aphasics without left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex lesions. In addition, Wharton et al (2000) report a positron emission tomography study of normal participants finding left frontal activation (BA 44 and 45) during analogical reasoning tasks requiring comparison of nonverbal stimuli (Wharton et al, 2000). This combined evidence suggests that the left prefrontal cortex may be needed for decision-making and problem-solving involving conceptual comparisons between nonverbal stimuli.…”

Section: Comparison To Other Tasks and The Role Of The Left Prefrontamentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Frontal Lobe Lesions on Goal Achievement in the Water Jug Task

Colvin¹,

Dunbar

Grafman

2001

Self Cite

Patients with prefrontal cortex lesions are impaired on a variety of planning and problem-solving tasks. We examined the problem-solving performance of 27 patients with focal frontal lobe damage on the Water Jug task. The Water Jug task has never been used to assess problem-solving ability in neurologically impaired patients nor in functional neuroimaging studies, despite sharing structural similarities with other tasks sensitive to prefrontal cortex function, including the Tower of Hanoi, Tower of London, and Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST). Our results demonstrate that the Water Jug task invokes a unique combination of problem-solving and planning strategies, allowing a more precise identification of frontal lobe lesion patients' cognitive deficits. All participants (patients and matched controls) appear to be utilizing a hill-climbing strategy that does not require sophisticated planning; however, frontal lobe lesion patients (FLLs) struggled to make required “counterintuitive moves” not predicted by this strategy and found within both solution paths. Left and bilateral FLLs were more impaired than right FLLs. Analysis of the left hemisphere brain regions encompassed by the lesions of these patients found that poor performance was linked to left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex damage. We propose that patients with left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex lesions have difficulty making a decision requiring the conceptual comparison of nonverbal stimuli, manipulation of select representations of potential solutions, and are unable to appropriately inhibit a response in keeping with the final goal.