Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have established that logical reasoning abilities are not linked to language skills. Experiments demonstrated that the linguistic system is not activated during the process of solving logical problems. This discovery significantly changes the understanding of human intelligence. The study was published in the journal PNAS.
When training modern large language models, such as ChatGPT and Claude, pre-existing texts written by humans are used. The AI then applies this database to perform tasks, mimicking human reasoning. Scientists are studying the differences between these models and the human brain, aiding in the development of new neural network architectures.
Previously, it was commonly assumed in the scientific community that we think in words. Formally, our reasoning does resemble language, but neuroscientists have proven that the brain uses different systems for verbal communication and reasoning. Language is needed for formulating problems, analysis, and explaining conclusions, but not for reaching them. Logic requires a precision that language often lacks.
Researchers conducted experiments with patients who had lost the ability to speak after suffering a stroke. They were given wordless logic games that required identifying a hidden rule for transforming numbers or finding a pattern in a geometric matrix. It turned out that patients with aphasia (loss of speech) could solve problems just as successfully as the control group of healthy participants, but the former conveyed their answers using gestures and drawings, without words.
Simultaneously, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to study the brains of healthy individuals while they solved logical problems. It confirmed that the brain did not activate the language system when searching for hidden rules or analyzing logical statements. Inductive reasoning engaged a different network—the “multiple demand system,” which is responsible for tackling complex problems.
The results of the experiment are important for improving the rehabilitation of people with speech disorders. They do not imply a loss of intelligence or the ability to think abstractly. People with aphasia often play chess, solve puzzles, and manage budgets successfully. This debunks the myth that working with symbolic rules is necessarily tied to linguistic abilities.
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