Abstract: As one of central abilities in human cognitive development, analogical reasoning, which is different from deductive and inductive reasoning, has become an active field to study in current researching on human cognition. It was Indicated that analogical reasoning is not only affected by some characteristics of items, such as order, causal structure, contextual coherence et al, but also associated with other cognitive abilities, such as processing speed and working memory. The relationship between analogical reasoning and working memory is also revealed by functional neuroimaging, which indicated that the anterior and posterior regions of left hemisphere of human brain is involved in analogical reasoning.

Key words: analogical reasoning, processing speed, working memory