Neuroimaging of analogical reasoning

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Humans exhibit the ability to use analogy to make inferences about novel situations across a wide range of domains. Although analogical reasoning is an important aspect of human cognition, it has not received a great deal of attention from cognitive neuroscientists. In this project we will investigate the component processes in reasoning and their neural substrates using functional neuroimaging. Prior theoretical and empirical work has identified 2 critical processes in understanding analogies; the ability to integrate multiple relations and the inhibition of salient distracting information. In 3 proposed experiments, these factors will be systematically manipulated across analogy problems. In each experiment, participants will solve these problems during fMRI scanning using an event-related design. This approach will allow us to identify the neural substrates of these different processes that contribute to analogical reasoning. The 3 proposed studies use different domains in order to determine whether there are general mechanisms of analogical reasoning. Although prior research has demonstrated that prefrontal cortex is important for reasoning abilities, including analogy, the proposed research will shed light on the distinct cognitive processes that contribute to analogical reasoning, and how they are organized in the human brain.