Putting the pieces together: Generating a novel representational space through deductive reasoning
Putting the pieces together: Generating a novel representational space through deductive reasoning
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DOI：
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.07.062
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发表时间：
2018-12-01
期刊：
影响因子：
5.7
通讯作者：
Kraemer, David J. M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Alfred, Katherine L.;Connolly, Andrew C.;Kraemer, David J. M.
大脑如何代表新学习的心理模型？表征相似性分析（RSA）揭示了在发育早期学习的常见表征空间的神经基础，例如自然种类的类别。这项研究使用 RSA 来检查新学习的心理模型（即通过演绎推理创建的表征空间）的神经实现，并研究先前在推理任务中发现的顶叶活动的结构。具体来说，这种心理模型中的所有信息只能通过抽象传递推理来获得，因为刺激中可观察到的特征之间不存在预测差异，并且刺激在参与者之间是平衡的。参与者被展示了陌生的脸部肖像和名字，并被要求通过与照片中其他人的比较来了解肖像中每个人的身高。参与者仅了解该组中相邻配对的相对高度，然后使用传递推理生成身高的线性排名（例如，“马修比托马斯高；托马斯比安德鲁高；因此马修比安德鲁高”）。在功能磁共振成像过程中，参与者根据这些推论回忆起每个人的大致身高。 RSA 使用基于一组个体相对高度的预测模型，揭示了右半球的三个大脑区域，这些区域编码了这个新学习的表征空间，位于顶内沟、楔前叶和额下回内。这些发现证明了 RSA 在分析活动模式内的结构方面的价值，并支持逻辑推理招募空间处理机制的理论。
How does the brain represent a newly-learned mental model? Representational similarity analysis (RSA) has revealed the neural basis of common representational spaces learned early in development, such as categories of natural kinds. This study uses RSA to examine the neural implementation of a newly-learned mental model-i.e., a representational space created through deductive reasoning-and study the structure of previously found parietal activity in reasoning tasks. Specifically, all the information in this mental model could only be obtained through abstract transitive reasoning, as there were no predictive differences between observable features in the stimuli, and stimuli were counterbalanced across participants. Participants were shown unfamiliar face portraits paired with names and asked to learn about the height of each person pictured in the portraits through comparison to other individuals in the set. Participants learned the relative heights only of adjacent pairs in the set and then used transitive reasoning to generate a linear ranking of heights (e.g., "Matthew is taller than Thomas; Thomas is taller than Andrew; therefore Matthew is taller than Andrew"). During fMRI, participants recalled the approximate height of each individual based on these inferences. Using a predictive model based on the relative heights of the set of individuals, RSA revealed three brain regions in the right hemisphere that encoded this newly-learned representational space, located within the intraparietal sulcus, precuneus, and inferior frontal gyrus. These findings demonstrate the value of RSA for analyzing structure within patterns of activity and support theories asserting that logical reasoning recruits spatial processing mechanisms.