TITLE:
The ANALGOR Online Inventory for Calibrating Analogical and Boolean Thinking in Normal Individuals
AUTHORS:
Desmond D. Mascarenhas
KEYWORDS:
ANALGOR, Analogical, Metaphor, Theory-of-Mind, Abstraction, Boolean
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.10 No.9,
July
11,
2019
ABSTRACT: Abstractive functionality in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) using pattern-matching is believed to involve circuitry associated with the left inferior frontal gyrus whereas abstractions based on Boolean logic require the medial frontal cortex. How preferences and aptitudes for these distinct mechanisms vary amongst clinically normal individuals is not well understood. The possible influence of cultural environments on such aptitudes has also not been extensively investi-gated. In this initial study, a cohort (n = 343) of English-speaking individuals from countries located on four continents (United States, United Kingdom, Australia, India) answered a fifteen-item ANALGOR survey, an online instru-ment designed to measure analogical and Boolean abstraction skills. Significant differences were observed between US scores on the one hand, and Australian and Indian scores on the other for analogical but not for Boolean abstractions. These initial observations await confirmation with larger cohorts.