Title: Cognitive processes underlying the continuity effect in spatial reasoning
Abstract: Cognitive processes underlying the continuity effect in spatial reasoning Jelica Nejasmic ([email protected]) Antje Krumnack ([email protected]) Leandra Bucher ([email protected]) Markus Knauff ([email protected]) Justus-Liebig University, Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Science, Otto-Behaghel-Str. 10F, 35394 Giessen, Germany Abstract It is assumed that spatial reasoning about previously obtained information that describe relations between two or more objects is based on the construction and inspection of mental models. The paper mainly focuses on the question how humans integrate spatial information that initially appeared not to be linked. Two experiments investigated the construction processes of spatial mental models and the integration of additional information into existing models. The results show that combining information that are initially not related to one another takes longer and leads to more errors. Then moreover, information presented in a continuous and a semi-continuous order was integrated sequentially, whereas information presented in a discontinuous order was first integrated sequentially into one temporary model and if necessary subsequently revised. Keywords: Spatial reasoning; mental models; belief revision; spatial cognition; spatial relations Introduction Imagine the following situation: a new member of staff joins the company and colleague A tells him: “my office is to the right of Leo´s office”, and colleague B tells him: “my office is to the left of Bill´s office”. At first sight, it looks like these two statements have nothing to do with one another. And then he gets to know colleague C who tells him: “Bill´s office is to the left of Leo´s office”. With this additional information it is possible to arrange the offices. Reasoning with non-spatial and spatial relations is an important everyday task. The processes underlying these abilities are not fully understood. In the following we review some crucial aspects of the theoretical assumptions concerning spatial reasoning and present empirical evidence how humans integrate successively presented spatial information into coherent spatial representations. use the meaning of assertions and general knowledge to construct single models of possibilities compatible with these assertions (Johnson-Laird & Byrne, 1991; Polk & Newell, 1995; Goodwin & Johnson-Laird, 2005;). This means that people use the linguistic description of a situation for constructing an integrated representation by translating the given information into a mental model. These integrated representations constitute models in the strict logical sense and represent in “small scale” how “reality” could be (Craik, 1943). According to the mental model theory spatial reasoning relies on the construction and inspection of mental models (e.g. Johnson-Laird & Byrne, 1991; Knauff, Rauh, & Schlieder 1995; Vandierendonck & de Vooght, 1997; Knauff, Rauh, Schlieder, & Strube, 1998; Schaeken, Girotto, & Johnson-Laird, 1998; Ragni, Knauff, & Nebel, 2005; Rauh, Hagen, Kuss, Knauff, Schlieder, & Strube, Knauff et al. (1998) have specified three distinct phases for this special case of reasoning: A construction phase, during that reasoners construct a mental model, reflecting the information of the premises, an inspection phase, during which the model is inspected for implicit information of the premises, and a variation phase, during which alternative models are constructed and investigated concerning their compatibility with the information given by the premises. If necessary the third phase results into falsification of the preliminary mental model, constructed during the first phase. The following is intended to clarify some details about the construction processes of integrated spatial mental models. Construction processes of integrated spatial mental models Consider the following spatial description: Theoretical approaches of spatial reasoning The apple is to the left of the peach. Studies have shown that spatial reasoning most likely relies on spatial representations which reasoners construct in some cognitive space. This is best accounted for by the mental model theory (MMT) which postulates that reasoners The peach is to the left of the kiwi. The kiwi is to the left of the mango.
Publication Year: 2011
Publication Date: 2011-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 8
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