Preferred Mental Models Research Articles

Uncertain relational reasoning in the parietal cortex

The psychology of reasoning is currently transitioning from the study of deductive inferences under certainty to inferences that have degrees of uncertainty in both their premises and conclusions; however, only a few studies have explored the cortical basis of uncertain reasoning. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), we show that areas in the right superior parietal lobe (rSPL) are necessary for solving spatial relational reasoning problems under conditions of uncertainty. Twenty-four participants had to decide whether a single presented order of objects agreed with a given set of indeterminate premises that could be interpreted in more than one way. During the presentation of the order, 10-Hz TMS was applied over the rSPL or a sham control site. Right SPL TMS during the inference phase disrupted performance in uncertain relational reasoning. Moreover, we found differences in the error rates between preferred mental models, alternative models, and inconsistent models. Our results suggest that different mechanisms are involved when people reason spatially and evaluate different kinds of uncertain conclusions.

A theory and a computational model of spatial reasoning with preferred mental models.

Inferences about spatial arrangements and relations like "The Porsche is parked to the left of the Dodge and the Ferrari is parked to the right of the Dodge, thus, the Porsche is parked to the left of the Ferrari," are ubiquitous. However, spatial descriptions are often interpretable in many different ways and compatible with several alternative mental models. This article suggests that individuals tackle such indeterminate multiple-model problems by constructing a single, simple, and typical mental model but neglect other possible models. The model that first comes to reasoners' minds is the preferred mental model. It helps save cognitive resources but also leads to reasoning errors and illusory inferences. The article presents a preferred model theory and an instantiation of this theory in the form of a computational model, preferred inferences in reasoning with spatial mental models (PRISM). PRISM can be used to simulate and explain how preferred models are constructed, inspected, and varied in a spatial array that functions as if it were a spatial working memory. A spatial focus inserts tokens into the array, inspects the array to find new spatial relations, and relocates tokens in the array to generate alternative models of the problem description, if necessary. The article also introduces a general measure of difficulty based on the number of necessary focus operations (rather than the number of models). A comparison with results from psychological experiments shows that the theory can explain preferences, errors, and the difficulty of spatial reasoning problems.

Preferred and Alternative Mental Models in Spatial Reasoning

The mental model theory postulates that spatial reasoning relies on the construction, inspection, and the variation of mental models. Experiment 1 shows that in reasoning problems with multiple solutions, reasoners construct only a single model that is preferred over others. Experiment 2 shows that inferences conforming to these preferred mental models (PMM) are easier than inferences that are valid for alternatives. Experiments 3 and 4 support the idea that model variation consists of a model revision process. The process usually starts with the PMM and then constructs alternative models by local transformations. Models which are difficult to reach are more likely to be neglected than models which are only minor revisions of the PMM.

Exploring Tertiary Students' Understanding of Covalent Bonding

There has been little research into learners' mental models of chemical bonding at any level, let alone the tertiary level. Undergraduate and graduate students encounter a plethora of sophisticated and highly abstract mental models for chemical bonding, and this study sought to investigate if there are preferred mental models for the concept of covalent bonding for secondary, undergraduate, and graduate chemistry learners. In particular, it was of interest to see whether exposure to increasingly sophisticated mental models at different points in a chemistry education showed up in patterns of preference and use of models in interpreting common physical properties and phenomena. The study revealed that, despite evidencing expertise in a number of highly complex and mathematically sophisticated mental models, tertiary students, including graduates (MSc and PhD), show a strong preference for simple realistic mental models. Furthermore, the students struggled to use their mental models to explain the physical properties of covalently bonded substances.

Präferierte mentale Modelle beim räumlich-relationalen Schließen: Empirie und kognitive Modellierung

The theory of mental models is the most prominent approach for explaining the underlying cognitive processes in spatial relational inference. Of the three phases of model construction, model inspection, and model variation, this article focuses mainly on the first one. The phase of model construction in spatial relational inference tasks based on the interval relations of Allen (1983) is investigated in two experiments. The first experiment corroborated the hypothesis of the existence of generally preferred mental models. The second experiment showed evidence for the causal influence of preferred mental models in verification tasks of three-term series problems. Based on these results, the issue concerning the kind of representation of spatial information in mental models is tackled. Cognitive modeling based on insertion operations for beginning and end-points of intervals by means of a spatial focus, i. e., using only ordinal information, corresponds clearly to the empirical preferences. Finally, we discuss the results with respect to the prediction of inferences in other inference tasks and problems concerning the processes in the phases of model inspection and model variation.

Preferred mental models for direct manipulation and command-based interfaces

One of the main methods used to compare direct manipulation and command-based interfaces is to examine user preferences. User preferences are extended in our research to examine which mental model, direct manipulation or command-based, subjects prefer to use in transfer situations. One group of subjects was provided with both a command-line and direct manipulation interface during a training phase. After training, several transfer experiments were conducted to determine the preferred mental model. The developed mental models were investigated by "running" the models and extending the models to new situations. They were evaluated by determining the operators specified by the subjects. By comparing the class of operators to subjects trained on only one of the interfaces, direct manipulation or command-based, the preferred model could be determined. The preferred mental model for "running" the model was the direct manipulation. For extensions that had a concrete or graphical basis in the interface, the direct manipulation was preferred. For extensions that were abstract, one model was not preferred over the other. Some ability to use multiple mental models, based upon the task, was also observed.