Center for Advanced Research on Logic and Sensibility (CARLS), Keio University, Tokyo, Japan.
Neuroimage. 2010 Apr 15;50(3):1320-6. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.01.026. Epub 2010 Jan 18.
The dual-process theory of reasoning explained the belief-bias effect, the tendency for human reasoning to be erroneously biased when logical conclusions are incongruent with belief about the world, by proposing a belief-based fast heuristic system and a logic-based slow analytic system. Although the claims were supported by behavioral findings that the belief-bias effect was enhanced when subjects were not given sufficient time for reasoning, the neural correlates were still unknown. The present study therefore examined the relationship between the time-pressure effect and activity in the inferior frontal cortex (IFC) during belief-bias reasoning using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Forty-eight subjects performed congruent and incongruent reasoning tasks, involving long-span (20 s) and short-span trials (10 s). Behavioral analysis found that only incongruent reasoning performance was impaired by the time-pressure of short-span trials. NIRS analysis found that the time-pressure decreased right IFC activity during incongruent trials. Correlation analysis showed that subjects with enhanced right IFC activity could perform better in incongruent trials, while subjects for whom the right IFC activity was impaired by the time-pressure could not maintain better reasoning performance. These findings suggest that the right IFC may be responsible for the time-pressure effect in conflicting reasoning processes. When the right IFC activity was impaired in the short-span trials in which subjects were not given sufficient time for reasoning, the subjects may rely on the fast heuristic system, which result in belief-bias responses. We therefore offer the first demonstration of neural correlates of time-pressure effect on the IFC activity in belief-bias reasoning.
推理的双重过程理论通过提出基于信念的快速启发式系统和基于逻辑的慢速分析系统，解释了信念偏差效应，即当逻辑结论与对世界的信念不一致时，人类推理错误地产生偏差的趋势。尽管这些观点得到了行为研究的支持，即当被试没有足够的时间进行推理时，信念偏差效应会增强，但神经相关性仍然未知。因此，本研究使用近红外光谱（NIRS）研究了在信念偏差推理过程中，时间压力效应与下额叶皮层（IFC）活动之间的关系。48 名被试完成了一致和不一致的推理任务，涉及长跨度（20 秒）和短跨度试验（10 秒）。行为分析发现，只有不一致的推理表现受到短跨度试验时间压力的影响。NIRS 分析发现，时间压力降低了不一致试验中右 IFC 的活动。相关分析表明，右 IFC 活动增强的被试在不一致试验中表现更好，而右 IFC 活动受到时间压力影响的被试则无法保持更好的推理表现。这些发现表明，右 IFC 可能负责冲突推理过程中的时间压力效应。当右 IFC 活动在被试没有足够时间进行推理的短跨度试验中受损时，被试可能依赖于快速启发式系统，从而导致信念偏差反应。因此，我们首次证明了时间压力对 IFC 活动在信念偏差推理中的影响的神经相关性。
