Visualization, Reasoning, and Rationality

Abstract

The epistemic role of mental visualization has always been a matter of controversy. I present my cognitive research on the role of visualization in human rationality. The starting point is that many cognitive scientists believe that visual mental images are generally functional in cognition and thus should have positive effects on human reasoning. Visualization is considered to be a good thing by most scholars. I instead argue that this is not always true. In fact, visual images can detract people from the relevant information and thus impede their reasoning. Based on this claim, I propose a spatial theory of human reasoning that solely relies on spatial representations and processes. My core idea is to draw clearly a contrast between visual images and spatial representations in reasoning and to show that only spatial representations are critical for rational reasoning. Although the approach does not rely on visual images, it explains why we often have the feeling that we think with our “mind’s eye”. The theory is corroborated by cognitive experiments, functional brain imaging, and computational modeling. I close with some general thoughts on the role of visualization for human rationality.