Counterfactual syllogistic reasoning in normal 4-year-olds, children with learning disabilities, and children with autism.

Autor: Leevers HJ; Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Aidekman Research Center, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ 07102, USA. leevers@axon.rutgers.edu, Harris PL
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of experimental child psychology [J Exp Child Psychol] 2000 May; Vol. 76 (1), pp. 64-87.
DOI: 10.1006/jecp.1999.2542
Abstrakt: Instruction encouraging imagery improves logical reasoning with counterfactual premises by normal preschool children. In contrast, children with autism have been reported to reason accurately with counterfactual premises in the absence of such instruction (F. J. Scott, S. Baron-Cohen, & A. M. Leslie, 1999). To investigate this pattern of findings, we compared the performance of children with autism, children with learning disabilities, and normally developing 4-year-olds, who were given reasoning problems both with and without instruction in two separate testing sessions 2 to 3 weeks apart. Overall, instruction to use imagery led to persistent logical performance. However, children with autism displayed a distinctive pattern of responding, performing around chance levels, showing a simple response bias, and rarely justifying their responses by elaborating on the premises. We propose that instruction boosts logical performance by clarifying the experimenter's intention that a false proposition be accepted as a basis for reasoning and that children with autism have difficulty grasping this intention.
(Copyright 2000 Academic Press.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: