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in human higher cognitive function. A neural imaging study explored dual mecha-
nism theory in syllogistic reasoning [10]. It is found that a frontal-temporal system
processes concrete materials while a parietal system processes abstract materials.
Espino
[4] examined both the early and late processes in syllogistic rea-
soning in the conclusion-generation paradigm using eye-movement. The results
showed that the effects of the diculty of problems and the type of figure on
syllogism are different. The the figure, but not the diculty of syllogism, has
effects on early processing; both the figure and the diculty have effects on the
late processing. The results also showed that figural effects mainly occur on mi-
nor premise; furthermore, the figure P-M/M-S is less time consuming in both
early processing and late processing. Those results support MMT that the fig-
ure M-P/S-M creates an additional working memory load as the noncontiguous
middle terms.
Stupple and Ball
et al
. [20] studied figural effects in syllogistic conclusion-
evaluation paradigm. In their experiments, subjects can view only one of the
three masked regions simultaneously and the results have yielded reliable support
of MMT [13] that there are longer inspection time for the nonpreferred conclusion
(the conclusion direction of P-S for the figure M-P/S-M and S-P for the figure
P-M/M-S) than preferred one (the conclusion direction of S-P for the figure
M-P/S-M and P-S for the figure P-M/M-S).
Previous studies reveal that figural effects are more explicit in conclusion-
generation paradigm [12]. Those studies focus on belief bias effects in the eval-
uation paradigm [7,16]. Figural effects in the conclusion-evaluation paradigm
are still not entirely clear [16]. In addition, previous studies typically used se-
quential premise presentation, which may burden the working memory load and
constrain premises integration. In contrast, parallel premise presentation may
be more effective for testing figural effects.
Eye-tracker has been widely used in cognitive studies and especially in studies
of reading. Some authors argue that it can indicate the processes of mind [17,18].
The present study employed the conclusion-evaluation paradigm to explore the
figural effects of the figure M-S/P-M/S-P and the figure P-M/M-S/S-P with
parallel stimulus presentation method based on eye-movement.
et al
2M thod
In the study, experiments were performed by using eye-tracker. The early pro-
cesses, revealing the comprehension of an ROI, could be analyzed by the first
fixation duration which denoted the duration of the given region of interest
(ROI) from the time subject entered in it until he/she left it forwards or back-
wards for the first time. The late processes, revealing the reanalysis and inte-
gration of an ROI, could be analyzed by the sum of the duration of all the
fixations except the first fixation duration, which was different from Espino's
study where the late processes was defined as the sum of the duration of all
the fixations made in a given part [4]. Pre-conclusion and post-conclusion view-
ing analysis [1] was used to test the impact of conclusion on figural effects in
