PREDICTORS OF DEDUCTIVE REASONING IN PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN

The relationship between reasoning and other cognitive skills is extensively discussed in the reference literature. At one pole, there are studies that consider memory a significant factor, and, at the other pole, there are studies that found no significant relationship between reasoning and memory. In this study, we propose to analyze the relationship between syllogistic reasoning, as form of deductive reasoning and other cognitive abilities (visual memory, respectively attention). We selected 215 primary school children to whom we applied the following instruments: a list of syllogistic problems, a scale for the evaluation of visual memory and a scale for the assessment of attention. The results show that visual memory explains in a better way syllogistic reasoning, while attention is intensely involved in solving counterfactual syllogistic reasoning tasks.