Semantic familiarity, relevance, and the development of deductive reasoning.

This study examined the developmental progression ofdeductive r asoning between Grades 6 and 12 and the role of semantic content relevance inthe solution oftbe Wason selection task. A rating procedure was used to establish the degree of relevance between antecedent and consequent clauses of conditional (if.... then.... ) propositions. Results were consistent with the general position that formal deductive reasoning becomes available in adolescence and that relevant propositional content is not a sufficient condition for adequate deductive r asoning performance. High-relevant content enhanced level of performance for those having deductive r asoning competence, and low-relevant content failed to support adequate performance. Findings are interpreted within the distinc-tion between the use of the inference rule competence and the facilitation of relevant semantic con-tent. A considerable body of contemporary esearch as demon-strated that the ability to reason deductively undergoes a trans-formation and a well-defined evelopmental progression be-tween the ages of approximately 10-11 years and 17-18 years