mental model |
Working Definition:
Ashcraft defines a “mental model” as “knowledge of a domain, whether a simple device like a water faucet or something complex like a computer.” (Fundamentals of Cognition, 376).
Disciplinary Definitions:
For Johnson-Laird a mental model is the result of perception and comprehension and contrasts with propositional representations. "Mental Models," The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences, 525-527.
Ruth M. J. Byrne in her Blackwell Dictionary of Cognitive Psychology, "mental models," notes that "Discourse rarely provides us with a fully explicit description of a situation; instead we appear to make 'bridging' inferences whose conclusions have their source in a model of the situation" (224). She also has a clear account of Johnson-Laird's conception of a mental model matching propositional representations.
See Allan Paivio on "mental models" (Mental Representations: A Dual Coding Approach. page 18ff.)
We have the ability to simulate situations (Kahneman and Tversky, ??,
82, 203). The simulations take
the form of mental models that forecast outcomes.
Comments:
"Mental spcaces theory focusses on the subtle relationships among elements in the various mentl models that speakers construct" The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences on Fauconnier's "mental spaces" (134)
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last revised:
June 13, 2007
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