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Preferred Mental Models: How and Why They Are So Important in Human Reasoning with Spatial Relations

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 4387))

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.

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Ragni, M., Fangmeier, T., Webber, L., Knauff, M. (2007). Preferred Mental Models: How and Why They Are So Important in Human Reasoning with Spatial Relations. In: Barkowsky, T., Knauff, M., Ligozat, G., Montello, D.R. (eds) Spatial Cognition V Reasoning, Action, Interaction. Spatial Cognition 2006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 4387. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-75666-8_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-75666-8_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-75665-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-75666-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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