How order of information affects reasoning

Robert Mackiewicz , Philip N. Johnson-Laird

Abstract

The theory of mental models predicts that the difficulty of deductive reasoning should depend in part on theorder of processing the premises. Those orders that call for an initial construction of multiple modelsshould be harder than those that call for an initial construction of only one model that can be merelyupdated from subsequent premises. Experiment 1 demonstrated effects of order in the evaluation of givenconclusions, and it eliminated potential confounds, including the coherence of the sequence of clauses in thepremises. Experiment 2 corroborated the prediction in a more complex task in which the participants drewconclusions for themselves. Order affected both the times they took to read the premises and the accuracy oftheir conclusions. The paper discusses the results in the light of current theories of reasoning