Latest Reasoning Stories

BERRIEN SPRINGS, Mich., Sept. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- True or False: Walnuts can improve the odds of correctly answering a true or false question. The answer is true according to newly published research in the British Journal of Nutrition (http://journals.cambridge.org/walnuts). The study conducted by researchers at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Mich., found that walnuts--already known for being a power food--can help increase inferential reasoning, specifically, the ability to...

CAMBRIDGE, England and NEW YORK, July 25, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A revolutionary theory about reasoning and argumentation is itself leading to argument and debate around the world. The theory, that the main function of human reasoning is not to help with the individual pursuit of the truth but with the production of arguments to convince others, has been promoted by academics, Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber, in the journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences, published by Cambridge...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Psychopaths lack moral emotions, are impulsive, and routinely violate social and legal norms. They know right from wrong, but they don't follow the rules. For a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, scientists tested psychopaths and found that they are not skilled at reasoning about social contracts--which could explain why they cheat and take risks that seem unreasonable to...

When we make decisions based on what we think someone else will do, in anything from chess to warfare, we must use reason to infer the other's next move"”or next three or more moves"”to know what we must do. This so-called recursive reasoning ability in humans has been thought to be somewhat limited.But now, in just-published research led by a psychologist at the University of Georgia, it appears that people can engage in much higher levels of recursive reasoning than was previously...

As early as age 3, children's reasoning about biological world is influenced by cultural beliefsParents, educators and developmental psychologists have long been interested in how children understand the relationship between human and non-human animals. For decades, the consensus was that as children begin reasoning about the biological world, they adopt only one -- markedly "anthropocentric" -- vantage point, favoring humans over non-human animals when it comes to learning about...

Young children's reasoning about biological world is influenced by cultural beliefsHow do children reason about the natural world? How do they understand the relation between human and non-human animals?For decades, the consensus was that as young children begin reasoning about the biological world, they adopt an "anthropocentric" stance, favoring humans over non-human animals when it comes to learning about properties of animals.But Northwestern University researchers have taken...

CARY, N.C., March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Saffron Technology, Inc., a privately held software firm providing Experience Management solutions for business and government, today introduced Saffron REST APIs for Reasoning Methods, five new query and application development solutions for Saffron Natural Intelligence Platform Version 8.0 (Saffron 8). Saffron 8, which includes SaffronMemoryBase, SaffronAnalyst and Saffron REST APIs, is the latest version of the company's market-leading associative...

Five-year-olds can reason about the world from multiple perspectives simultaneously, according to a new theory by researchers in Japan and Australia. Using an established branch of mathematics called Category Theory, the researchers explain why specific reasoning skills develop in children at certain ages, particularly at age five. The new theory, published December 11 in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology, shows that these reasoning skills have similar profiles of development...

University of Maryland researchers have developed and successfully tested new computer software and computational techniques to analyze patterns of improvised explosive device (IED) attacks in Iraq, Afghanistan or other locations and predict the locations of weapons caches that are used by insurgents to support those attacks. University of Maryland computer science Ph.D. student Paulo Shakarian and computer science Professor V.S. Subrahmanian, together with University of Torino (Italy)...

Researchers from Portugal and Indonesia describe an approach to decision making based on computational logic in the current issue of the International Journal of Reasoning-based Intelligent Systems which might one day give machines a sense of morality.Science fiction authors often use the concept of "evil" machines that attempt to take control of their world and to dominate humanity. Skynet in the "Terminator" stories and Arthur C Clarke's Hal from "2001: A Space...