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Academic Paper

Title:	Mental models theory and relevance theory in quantificational reasoning
Author:	Steve Nicolle
Email:	click here to access email
Institution:	Africa International University
Linguistic Field:	Cognitive Science; Pragmatics; Psycholinguistics
Subject Language:	English
Abstract:	Human reasoning involving quantified statements is one area in which findings from cognitive psychology and linguistic pragmatics complement each other. I show how mental models theory provides a promising account of the mechanisms underlying peoples’ performance in three types of reasoning tasks involving quantified premises and conclusions. I further suggest that relevance theory can help to explain the way in which mental models are employed in the reasoning processes. Conversely, mental models theory suggests that human reasoning typically does not involve deductive rules, which in turn entails a modification to the nature of the deductive processes proposed by relevance theory. The mechanism proposed by mental models theory also helps to clarify the nature of the relevance theory distinction between conceptual and procedural information.
Type:	Individual Paper
Status:	Completed
Publication Info:	Pragmatics & Cognition 11: 345-378.

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