A Functional View Toward Mental Representations

To use the notion of representation for experimental studies in learning sciences or in any other empirical science, it would be desirable to have a more clearly defined notion. This chapter offers a preliminary definition which can be adapted to special domains. Ideally, this definition will facilitate the process of operationalization and the search for the right indicators to measure mental representations. An object used as a representation can be described as an object standing for or referring to something. This object might be a material thing, a sign, a process, or a state. A representation has the role of substituting for something else. Usually, representations are not detailed copies of the object they represent. They rather picture something as something for somebody; only the important information is presented and interpreted depending on the situation. (For a critical discussion, Cp. Goodman, 1969.) An important distinction is to be drawn between two types of representations: the mental (internal) and the external ones.