{"id":678148,"date":"2025-07-01T18:50:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T15:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/humans-and-animals-can-both-think-logically-but-testing-what-kind-of-logic-theyre-using-is-tricky\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T18:50:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T15:50:25","slug":"humans-and-animals-can-both-think-logically-but-testing-what-kind-of-logic-theyre-using-is-tricky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/humans-and-animals-can-both-think-logically-but-testing-what-kind-of-logic-theyre-using-is-tricky\/","title":{"rendered":"Humans and animals can both think logically, but testing what kind of logic they&#8217;re using is tricky"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a41298fdbcda\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a41298fdbcda\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/humans-and-animals-can-both-think-logically-but-testing-what-kind-of-logic-theyre-using-is-tricky\/#Logic_test_without_words\" >Logic test without words<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/humans-and-animals-can-both-think-logically-but-testing-what-kind-of-logic-theyre-using-is-tricky\/#The_twist_Not_all_tasks_are_easy\" >The twist: Not all tasks are easy<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/humans-and-animals-can-both-think-logically-but-testing-what-kind-of-logic-theyre-using-is-tricky\/#Small_differences_big_consequences\" >Small differences, big consequences<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-gallery lightGallery\">\n<div data-thumb=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/tmb\/2025\/animal-intelegence.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/hires\/2025\/animal-intelegence.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Credit: Pixabay\/CC0 Public Domain\">\n<figure class=\"article-img\">\n            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800a\/2025\/animal-intelegence.jpg\" alt=\"animal intelegence\" title=\"Credit: Pixabay\/CC0 Public Domain\" width=\"800\" height=\"519\"\/><figcaption class=\"text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3\">\n                Credit: Pixabay\/CC0 Public Domain<br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Can a monkey, a pigeon or a fish reason like a person? It&#8217;s a question scientists have been testing in increasingly creative ways\u2014and what we&#8217;ve found so far paints a more complicated picture than you&#8217;d think.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine you&#8217;re filling out a March Madness bracket. You hear that Team A beat Team B, and Team B beat Team C\u2014so you assume Team A is probably better than Team C. That&#8217;s a kind of logical reasoning known as <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.apa.org\/transitive-inference-task\" target=\"_blank\">transitive inference<\/a>. It&#8217;s so automatic that you barely notice you&#8217;re doing it.<\/p>\n<p>It turns out humans are not the only ones who can make these kinds of mental leaps. In labs around the world, researchers have <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1037\/xan0000301\" target=\"_blank\">tested many animals<\/a>, from primates to birds to insects, on tasks designed to probe transitive inference, and most pass with flying colors.<\/p>\n<p>As a scientist focused on <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?hl=en&amp;user=pz16Ox8AAAAJ\" target=\"_blank\">animal learning and behavior<\/a>, I work with pigeons to understand how they make sense of relationships, patterns and rules. In other words, I study the minds of animals that will never fill out a March Madness bracket\u2014but might still <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/jeab.70031\" target=\"_blank\">be able to guess the winner<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Logic_test_without_words\"><\/span>Logic test without words<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The basic idea is simple: If an animal learns that A is better than B, and B is better than C, can it figure out that A is better than C\u2014even though it&#8217;s never seen A and C together?<\/p>\n<p>In the lab, researchers test this by giving animals randomly paired images, one pair at a time, and rewarding them with food for picking the correct one. For example, animals learn that a photo of hands (A) is correct when paired with a classroom (B), a classroom (B) is correct when paired with bushes (C), bushes (C) are correct when paired with a highway (D), and a highway (D) is correct when paired with a sunset (E). We don&#8217;t know whether they &#8220;understand&#8221; what&#8217;s in the picture, and it is not particularly important for the experiment that they do.<\/p>\n<p>One possible explanation is that the animals that learn all the tasks create a mental ranking of these images: A &gt; B &gt; C &gt; D &gt; E. We test this idea by giving them new pairs they&#8217;ve never seen before, such as classroom (B) vs. highway (D). If they consistently pick the higher-ranked item, they&#8217;ve inferred the underlying order.<\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s fascinating is how many species succeed at this task. <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1037\/com0000065\" target=\"_blank\">Monkeys<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/40063137?seq=1\" target=\"_blank\">rats<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.beproc.2006.01.008\" target=\"_blank\">pigeons<\/a>\u2014even <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0237817\" target=\"_blank\">fish<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1098\/rsbl.2019.0015\" target=\"_blank\">wasps<\/a>\u2014have all demonstrated transitive inference in one form or another.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_twist_Not_all_tasks_are_easy\"><\/span>The twist: Not all tasks are easy<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>But not all types of reasoning come so easily. There&#8217;s another kind of rule called <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.apa.org\/stimulus-equivalence\" target=\"_blank\">transitivity<\/a> that is different from transitive inference, despite the similar name. Instead of asking which picture is better, transitivity is about equivalence.<\/p>\n<p>In this task, animals are shown a set of three pictures and asked which one goes with the center image. For example, if white triangle (A1) is shown, choosing red square (B1) earns a reward, while choosing blue square (B2) does not. Later, when red square (B1) is shown, choosing white cross (C1) earns a reward while choosing white circle (C2) does not. Now comes the test: white triangle (A1) is shown with white cross (C1) and white circle (C2) as choices. If they pick white cross (C1), then they&#8217;ve demonstrated transitivity.<\/p>\n<p>The change may seem small, but species that succeed in those first transitive inference tasks often stumble in this task. In fact, they tend to treat the white triangle and the white cross as completely separate things, despite their common relationship with the red square. In my recently published review of research using the two tasks, I concluded that <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/jeab.70031\" target=\"_blank\">more evidence is needed<\/a> to determine whether these tests tap into the same cognitive ability.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Small_differences_big_consequences\"><\/span>Small differences, big consequences<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Why does the difference between transitive inference and transitivity matter? At first glance, they may seem like two versions of the same ability\u2014logical reasoning. But when animals succeed at one and struggle with the other, it raises an important question: Are these tasks measuring the same kind of thinking?<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>arent difference between the two tasks isn&#8217;t just a quirk of animal behavior. Psychology researchers apply these tasks to humans in order to draw conclusions about how people reason.<\/p>\n<p>For example, say you&#8217;re trying to pick a new almond milk. You know that Brand A is creamier than Brand B, and your friend told you that Brand C is even waterier than Brand B. Based on that, because you like a thicker milk, you might assume Brand A is better than Brand C, an example of transitive inference.<\/p>\n<p>But now imagine the store labels both Brand A and Brand C as &#8220;barista blends.&#8221; Even without tasting them, you might treat them as functionally equivalent, because they belong to the same category. That&#8217;s more like transitivity, where items are grouped based on shared relationships. In this case, &#8220;barista blend&#8221; signals the brands share similar quality.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers often treat these types of reasoning as measuring the same ability. But if they rely on different mental processes, they might not be interchangeable. In other words, the way scientists ask their questions may shape the answer\u2014and that has big implications for how they interpret success in animals and in people.<\/p>\n<p>This difference could affect how researchers interpret decision-making not only in the lab, but also in everyday choices and in clinical settings. Tasks like these are sometimes used in research on <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3758\/s13415-011-0040-3\" target=\"_blank\">autism<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1162\/jocn_a_00203\" target=\"_blank\">brain injury<\/a> or <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/hipo.22501\" target=\"_blank\">age-related cognitive decline<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If two tasks look similar on the surface, then choosing the wrong one might lead to inaccurate conclusions about someone&#8217;s cognitive abilities. That&#8217;s why ongoing work <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/copal.wp.drake.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\">in my lab<\/a> is exploring whether the same distinction between these logical processes holds true for people.<\/p>\n<p>Just like a March Madness bracket doesn&#8217;t always predict the winner, a reasoning task doesn&#8217;t always show how someone got to the right answer. That&#8217;s the puzzle researchers are still working on\u2014figuring out whether different tasks really tap into the same kind of thinking or just look like they do. It&#8217;s what keeps scientists like me in the lab, asking questions, running experiments and trying to understand what it really means to reason\u2014no matter who&#8217;s doing the thinking.<\/p>\n<div class=\"d-inline-block text-medium my-4\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tProvided by<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Conversation<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"icon_open\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<use href=\"https:\/\/medx.b-cdn.net\/tmpl\/v6\/img\/svg\/sprite.svg#icon_open\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/svg><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"article-main__note mt-4\">\n                                                This article is republished from <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\" target=\"_blank\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/humans-and-animals-can-both-think-logically-but-testing-what-kind-of-logic-theyre-using-is-tricky-253001\" target=\"_blank\">original article<\/a>.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/253001\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"\/>\n                                            <\/p>\n<p>                                        <!-- print only --><\/p>\n<div class=\"d-none d-print-block\">\n<p>\n                                                 <strong>Citation<\/strong>:<br \/>\n                                                 Humans and animals can both think logically, but testing what kind of logic they&#8217;re using is tricky (2025, July 1)<br \/>\n                                                 retrieved 1 July 2025<br \/>\n                                                 from https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>\/2025-07-humans-animals-logically-kind-logic.html\n                                            <\/p>\n<p>\n                                            This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no<br \/>\n                                            part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.\n                                            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script id=\"facebook-jssdk\" async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Science category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/news\/2025-07-humans-animals-logically-kind-logic.html\" target=\"_blank\" >Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Credit: Pixabay\/CC0 Public Domain Can a monkey, a pigeon or a fish reason like a person? It&#8217;s a question scientists have been testing in increasingly creative ways\u2014and what we&#8217;ve found so far paints a more complicated picture than you&#8217;d think. Imagine you&#8217;re filling out a March Madness bracket. You hear that Team A beat Team&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":678149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/hires\/2025\/animal-intelegence.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-678148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sciencee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}