The correlation of inductive reasoning with multi-dimensional perception

Intelligence correlated with perception in previous studies. The aim of this investigation was to specify the relationship between inductive reasoning and perception. For this purpose, 125 healthy adults performed the Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices as measure of inductive reasoning and six perception tasks. Inductive reasoning correlated with simultaneous perception of locus and pitch (r = .29, p < .001) and with perception of four distinct colors (r = .32, p < .001). Inductive reasoning was not significantly associated with pitch discrimination, pitch contour perception after partialing out effects of covariates, pitch identification, and visual localization. Inductive reasoning, locus-pitch perception, and color perception required the processing of unrelated categories. Therefore, inductive reasoning and the correlating perception skills may share multi-dimensional mental representation. This multi-dimensional representation may differ from one-dimensional scales such as pitch. The findings suggest a differentiation of pre-semantic cognitions and its interactions with perception.

► Inductive reasoning, locus-pitch, and color perception share a cognitive process.
► Inductive reasoning and its associated perceptions process multi-dimensional scales.
► Inductive reasoning may be dissociated from the perception of one-dimensional scales.
► Task-specificity suggests cognitive sub-domains in addition to general intelligence.
► Processing multi-dimensional scales correlates with education in natural sciences.