Abstract
Co-reference occurs when two or more noun phrases refer to the same individual, as in the following inferential problem: Mark is kneeling by the fire or he is looking at the TV but not both. / Mark is kneeling by the fire. / Is he looking at the TV? In three experiments, we compared co-referential reasoning problems with problems referring to different individuals. Experiment 1 showed that co-reference improves accuracy. In Experiment 2, we replicated that finding and showed that co-reference speeds up both reading and inference. Experiment 3 showed that the effects of co-reference are greatest when the premises and the conclusion share co-referents. These effects led the participants to make illusory inferences—that is, to draw systematically invalid conclusions. The results are discussed in terms of the mental model theory of reasoning.
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At the time most of this research was conducted, the first author was supported by an Enterprise Ireland PhD fellowship, a Government of Ireland Scholarship from the Council for Humanities and Social Sciences, a Dublin University Postgraduate Award, and a postdoctoral fellowship from the Educational Testing Service. The second author was supported by Grant BCS 0076287 from the National Science Foundation for investigation of strategies in reasoning. Some of the results were presented at the 23rd meeting of the Cognitive Science Conference in Edinburgh in August, 2001.
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Walsh, C.R., Johnson-Laird, P.N. Co-reference and reasoning. Memory & Cognition 32, 96–106 (2004). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195823
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195823