Title
Mental Models in Spatial Reasoning
Abstract
This chapter gives an overview of our ongoing experimental research in the MeMoSpace project, concerning the cognitive processes underlying human spatial reasoning. Our theoretical background is mental model theory, which conceives reasoning as a process in which mental models of the given information are constructed and inspected to solve a reasoning task. We first report some findings of our previous work and then two new experiments on spatial relational inference, which were conducted to investigate well-known effects from relational and syllogistic reasoning. (1) Continuity effect: n-term-series problems with continuous (W r1 X, X r2 Y, Y r3 Z) and semi-continuous (X r2 Y, Y r3 Z, W r1 X) premise order are easier than tasks with discontinuous order (Y r3 Z, W r1 X, X r2 Y). (2) Figural bias: the order of terms in the premises (X r Y, Y r Z or Y r X, Z r Y) effects the order of terms in the conclusion (X r Z or Z r X). In the first experiment subjects made more errors and took more time to process the premises when in discontinuous order. In the second experiment subjects showed the general preference for the term order Z r X in the generated conclusions, modulated by a "figural bias": subjects used X r Z more often if the premise term order was X r Y, Y r Z, whereas Z r X was used most often for the premise term order Y r X, Z r Y. Results are discussed in the framework of mental model theory with special reference to computational models of spatial reasoning.
Year
DOI
Venue
1998
10.1007/3-540-69342-4_13
Spatial Cognition
Keywords
Field
DocType
x r2 y,w r1 x,y r z,r x,spatial reasoning,mental models,y r x,discontinuous order,x r z,y r3 z,z r x,x r y,spatial relation,computer model
Syllogism,Discrete mathematics,Mental model,Spatial intelligence,Inference,Premise,Spatial representation,Mathematics,Mental representation
Conference
ISBN
Citations 
PageRank 
3-540-64603-5
12
1.93
References 
Authors
6
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Markus Knauff137241.11
rauh r schlieder c2121.93
Gerhard Strube338946.10
Christian Freksa41486181.56
Wilfried Brauer5969299.36
c habel k f wender6121.93