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Psychological Basis
To develop a model of spatial reasoning which is cognitively as adequate as possible basic psychological results accumulated
over the last century have been taken into account and incorporated into the design of the model. This site is intended to
make transparent both which empirical studies have been considered and how they have been interpreted with respect to model
design.
One crucial aspect and subject of hot debate throughout the years regarding human spatial reasoning is how spatial knowledge used during reasoning is represented. Whereas some researchers argue that knowledge is solely represented
propositional others hold the view that a special representational format, called mental image, is utilized. Accordingly, one main focus of the literature review has been the evidence for or against, respectively, the use of mental images and their
properties. During the review process a major problem turned out to be that the term mental image is not used consistently:
Every researcher seems to have his own (implicit) definition of the concept. Therefore, to avoid misunderstandings and to
clarify how the term is understood—based on the reviewed psychological results—in the scope of the R1 project an explicit
definition of 'mental image' seems expedient:
Mental Image: A mental model that is characterized by two distinguishing attributes:
- It has analogical properties, i.e., —at least some of—the relations holding between the constituting representations
of the model are analogous to the relations that hold between the entities denoted by those representations.
- It is visual in the sense that it is similar to visual perceptions. This type of mental image has sometimes been termed
visual mental image. However, since in the scope of the R1 project mainly visual mental images are of importance 'visual' has
been dropped for the sake of brevity.
To render this definition/interpretation of the term 'mental image' and notions of other psychological concepts as used in R1
more comprehensible psychological results have been systematically structured. In doing so relevant work has been organized
in a three level hierarchy comprising Categories at top-, Findings at mid- and single psychological
Studies at bottom-level. Categories group results concerning broader areas of psychological endeavors, i.e., mainly
results concerning theoretical constructs like 'Mental Images' or 'Attention'. For every such construct exist some
assertions/assumptions (Findings) about the properties of the construct. These Findings again are supported or refuted by
single empirical Studies.
To get an overview of which Categories/Findings/Studies exist and how they relate to each other click on one of the links
below:
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