Centre for Advanced Imaging, the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Brain Imaging Behav. 2021 Apr;15(2):1085-1102. doi: 10.1007/s11682-020-00315-5.
In logical reasoning, difficulties in inhibition of currently-held beliefs may lead to unwarranted conclusions, known as belief bias. Aging is associated with difficulties in inhibitory control, which may lead to deficits in inhibition of currently-held beliefs. No study to date, however, has investigated the underlying neural substrates of age-related differences in logical reasoning and the impact of belief load. The aim of the present study was to delineate age differences in brain activity during a syllogistic logical reasoning task while the believability load of logical inferences was manipulated. Twenty-nine, healthy, younger and thirty, healthy, older adults (males and females) completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment in which they were asked to determine the logical validity of conclusions. Unlike younger adults, older adults engaged a large-scale network including anterior cingulate cortex and inferior frontal gyrus during conclusion stage. Our functional connectivity results suggest that while older adults engaged the anterior cingulate network to overcome their intuitive responses for believable inferences, the inferior frontal gyrus network contributed to higher control over responses during both believable and unbelievable conditions. Our functional results were further supported by structure-function-behavior analyses indicating the importance of cingulum bundle and uncinate fasciculus integrity in rejection of believable statements. These novel findings lend evidence for age-related differences in belief bias, with potentially important implications for decision making where currently-held beliefs and given assumptions are in conflict.
在逻辑推理中，对当前信念的抑制困难可能导致不合理的结论，这种现象被称为信念偏差。衰老与抑制控制困难有关，这可能导致对当前信念的抑制不足。然而，迄今为止，没有研究调查逻辑推理中与年龄相关的差异的潜在神经基础以及信念负荷的影响。本研究旨在描绘在推理逻辑任务中大脑活动的年龄差异，同时操纵逻辑推理的可信度负荷。29 名健康的年轻成年人和 30 名健康的老年成年人（男性和女性）完成了一项功能磁共振成像实验，他们被要求确定结论的逻辑有效性。与年轻成年人不同，老年成年人在结论阶段涉及到包括前扣带皮层和下额回在内的大规模网络。我们的功能连接结果表明，虽然老年成年人在前扣带网络中克服了对可信推论的直觉反应，但下额回网络有助于在可信和不可信条件下对反应进行更高的控制。我们的功能结果进一步得到结构-功能-行为分析的支持，表明内囊束和钩束完整性在拒绝可信陈述方面的重要性。这些新发现为信念偏差的年龄相关差异提供了证据，这对于需要当前信念和给定假设发生冲突的决策制定具有重要意义。
