Preferred mental models: how and why they are so important in human reasoning with spatial relations

  • Authors:

  • Marco Ragni;Thomas Fangmeier;Lara Webber;Markus Knauff

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Computer Science, Georges-Köhler-Allee, Freiburg, Germany;Center for Cognitive Science, Freiburg, Germany;Center for Cognitive Science, Freiburg, Germany;Center for Cognitive Science, Freiburg, Germany

  • Venue:
  • SC'06 Proceedings of the 2006 international conference on Spatial Cognition V: reasoning, action, interaction
  • Year:
  • 2006

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Abstract

According to the mental models theory, humans reason by constructing, inspecting, and validating mental models of the state of affairs described in the premises. We present a formal framework describing all three phases and testing new predictions about the construction principle humans normally use and about the deduction process itself - the model variation phase. Finally, empirical findings in support of these principles are reported.