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One of the important questions cognitive theories of reasoning must address is whether logical reasoning is inherently sentential or spatial. A sentential model would exploit nonspatial (linguistic) properties of representations whereas a spatial model would exploit spatial properties of representations. In general terms, the linguistic hypothesis predicts that the language processing regions underwrite human reasoning processes, and the spatial hypothesis suggests that the neural structures for perception and motor control contribute the basic representational building blocks used for high-level logical and linguistic reasoning. We carried out a [¹⁵O] H₂O PET imaging study to address this issue.

Twelve normal volunteers performed three types of deductive reasoning tasks (categorical syllogisms, three-term spatial relational items, and three-term nonspatial relational items) while their regional cerebral blood flow …