Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37941751›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in psychology2023

Language models and psychological sciences.

Giuseppe Sartori, Graziella Orrù

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Metacognition of ChatGPT in confidence judgements.Frontiers in artificial intelligence · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Attention heads of large language models.Patterns (New York, N.Y.) · 2025
    Review
  4. Text understanding in GPT-4 versus humans.Royal Society open science · 2025
    Article
  5. Precision neuropsychology in the area of AI.Frontiers in psychology · 2025
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Giuseppe SartoriDepartment of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Graziella OrrùDepartment of Surgical, Medical, Molecular and Critical Area Pathology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Large language models (LLMs) are demonstrating impressive performance on many reasoning and problem-solving tasks from cognitive psychology. When tested, their accuracy is often on par with average neurotypical adults, challenging long-standing critiques of associative models. Here we analyse recent findings at the intersection of LLMs and cognitive science. Here we discuss how modern LLMs resurrect associationist principles, with abilities like long-distance associations enabling complex reasoning. While limitations remain in areas like causal cognition and planning, phenomena like emergence suggest room for growth. Providing examples and increasing the dimensions of the network are methods that further improve LLM abilities, mirroring facilitation effects in human cognition. Analysis of LLMs errors provides insight into human cognitive biases. Overall, we argue LLMs represent a promising development for cognitive modelling, enabling new explorations of the mechanisms underlying intelligence and reasoning from an associationist point of view. Carefully evaluating LLMs with the tools of cognitive psychology will further understand the building blocks of the human mind.

Indexed as

associationismcognitive psychologyGPT-4large language models (LLMs)reasoning

Identifiers

PMID37941751
PMCPMC10629494

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.