[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# Neural Correlates of Analogical Reasoning on Syntactic Patterns

Li et al., 2024, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience — Neuroscience

Patterns: [Relationships](https://dsrpevidence.org/pattern/relationships)

## In short

Analogy relates relations to relations (second-order relating), with its own neural substrate.

## What they found (results)

fMRI showed analogical (second-order relational) judgments on rule-generated syntactic patterns recruited anterior and posterior left middle frontal gyrus beyond first-order relational and working-memory demands.

## What they set out to do (purpose)

To identify the neural substrate for analogy over abstract syntactic relations.

## In more detail

Reasoning by analogy is relating relations to relations: mapping a second-order relation rather than mapping the related items themselves. Purpose: To identify the neural substrate for analogy over abstract syntactic relations. Finding: fMRI showed analogical (second-order relational) judgments on rule-generated syntactic patterns recruited anterior and posterior left middle frontal gyrus beyond first-order relational and working-memory demands. [Added 2026-07-30 as new evidence beyond the original 109. DSRP structural basis: R (Emergence from relationships): the mind maps one relation onto another (relations between relations).]

## Abstract

Analogical reasoning is central to thought and learning. However, previous neuroscience studies have focused mainly on neural substrates for visuospatial and semantic analogies. There has not yet been research on the neural correlates of analogical reasoning on syntactic patterns generated by the syntactic rules, a key feature of human language faculty. The present investigation took an initial step to address this paucity. Twenty-four participants, whose brain activity was monitored by fMRI, engaged in first-order and second-order relational judgments of syntactic patterns as well as simple and complex working memory tasks. After scanning, participants rated the difficulty of each step during analogical reasoning; these ratings were related to signal intensities in activated regions of interest using Spearman correlation analyses. After prior research, differences in activation levels during second-order and first-order relational judgments were taken as evidence of analogical reasoning. These analyses showed that analogical reasoning on syntactic patterns recruited brain regions consistent with those supporting visuospatial and semantic analogies, including the anterior and posterior parts of the left middle frontal gyrus, anatomically corresponding to the left rostrolateral pFC and the left dorsolateral pFC. The correlation results further revealed that the posterior middle frontal gyrus might be involved in analogical access and mapping with syntactic patterns. Our study is the first to investigate the process of analogical reasoning on syntactic patterns at the neurobiological level and provide evidence of the specific functional roles of related regions during subprocesses of analogical reasoning.

These researchers were not testing DSRP. The finding is theirs; the correspondence to DSRP is drawn by this site.

[Source](https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_02115)