Pré-Publication, Document De Travail (Preprint/Prepublication) Année : 2026

Questioning robustness of a human proto-symbolic capacity: associative symmetry

Résumé

Several proto-symbolic cognitive capacities have been documented in mammals and birds, at least to some degree. But one capacity, routinely reported in humans and called associative symmetry – being able to reverse an association learned in a forward manner, has largely resisted demonstration in non-human animals. It is thus generally considered to represent a building block for human symbolic cognition and mark a cognitive discontinuity with nonhumans. Yet, recently revealed methodological approximations in human data weaken such claim. Here, we tested 165 human adults in three experiments, in order to 1) provide a much-needed replication establishing symmetry, 2) and 3) assess its robustness with new tests. We obtained positive results, but showed that minor changes to the standard, well-established protocol produce major disruptions of evidence in favor of symmetry. This study suggests a prominent role of task-related inductive biases and underscores the benefit of minimal verbal instrutions to participants. Our results downplay associative symmetry as a defining feature of human cognition and question the reality of an interspecific cognitive gap.

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hal-05487555 , version 1 (31-01-2026)

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Thomas Chartier, Laure Tosatto, Sabatier Myriam, Linda Dahmani, Joel Fagot. Questioning robustness of a human proto-symbolic capacity: associative symmetry. 2026. ⟨hal-05487555⟩
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