Falsifying mental models: Testing the predictions of theories of syllogistic reasoning

Four experiments are reported that tested the claim, drawn from mental mode ls theory, that reasoners attempt to construct alternative representations of problems that might falsify preliminary conclusions they have drawn. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to indicate which alternative conclus ion(s) they had considered in a syllogistic reasoning task. In Experiments 2-4 participants were asked to draw diagrams consistent with the premises, on the assumption that these diagrams would provide insights into the menta l representation being used. In none of the experiments was there any evide nce that people constructed more models for multiple-model than for single- model syllogisms, nor was there any correlation between number of models co nstructed and overall accuracy. The results are interpreted as showing that falsification of the kind proposed by mental models theory may not routine ly occur in reasoning.