Cross-cultural similarities in topological reasoning

Abstract

How do we reason about topological relations? Do people with different cultural backgrounds differ in how they reason about such relations? We conducted two topological reasoning experiments, one in Germany and one in Mongolia to analyze such questions. Topological relations such as "A overlaps B", "B lies within C" were presented to the participants as premises and they had to find a conclusion that was consistent with the premises ("What is the relation between A and C?"). The problem description allowed multiple possible "conclusions". Our results, however, indicate that the participants had strong preferences: They consistently preferred one of the possible conclusions and neglected other conclusions, although they were also consistent with the premises. The preferred and neglected conclusions were quite similar in Germany and Mongolia. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.