In collaborative system design, problems can arise through the differing aims, plans and goals that participants hold. Simulation models can be used as visual representations acting as dynamic ‘blackboard’ models of design problems. These representations permit problem understanding through the externalisation of individual stakeholder mental models, making them available to all involved. Infor...

The representation of phonological features in the mental lexicon has been examined using eventrelated brain responses, such as mismatch negativeity (MMN; an automatic auditory change detection response in the brain) or the P350 component (a correlate of lexical activation). This presentation will summarize some MMN studies that demonstrate support for (i) models proposing abstract underspecifi...

How is shape represented during spatial tasks such as mental rotation? This research investigated the format of mental representations of 3-D shapes during mental rotation. Specifically, we tested the extent to which visual information, such as color, is represented during mental rotation using methods ranging from reaction time studies, verbal protocol analysis, and eyetracking. Another set of...

We discuss a series of problems facing referential theories of mental representations and we propose a scheme based on neurophysiological principles that should meet previous limitations. According to this scheme, mental representations are brain traces linked to stimuli in the environment , via a causal but probabilistic process of categorical perception, and uctuations in activity reeect uctu...

Navigation through an environment is a fundamental human activity. Although group differences in navigational ability are documented (e.g., gender), little is known about traits that predict these abilities. Apart from a well-established link between mental rotational abilities and navigational learning abilities, recent studies point to an influence of trait anxiety on the formation of interna...

This paper is trying to explore whether language has a very specific role in analogy-making as claimed by many researchers, or it is just one very effective way of building mental representations of the relational structure of the task. If the latter is true there must be also alternative ways of aiding mental representations of relations by young children. In the experiments described in this ...

Anticipating the future is a key motif of the brain, possibly supported by mental simulation of upcoming events. Rodent single-cell recordings suggest the ability of spatially tuned cells to represent subsequent locations. Grid-like representations have been observed in the human entorhinal cortex during virtual and imagined navigation. However, hitherto it remains unknown if grid-like represen...

If multimedia learning is to be successful, different sources of information need to be integrated into coherent mental representations. In many cases, however, the presentation and use of different sources of information does not result in the construction of appropriate mental representations. Starting from various potentials and problems of multimedia learning, the theory of structure-mappin...

We address the problem of musical variation (identification of different musical sequences as variations) and its implications for mental representations of music. According to reductionist theories, listeners judge the structural importance of musical events while forming mental representations. These judgments may result from the production of reduced memory representations that retain only t...

Mathematical cognition researchers have studied the mental representations of natural numbers, integers, and fractions extensively. We investigated the representations of irrational and perfect square numbers in a laboratory setting. Eighty participants performed (1) a magnitude comparison task (MC) by indicating which of two numbers is greater or lesser, (2) a number line estimation task (NLE)...