On looking into the black box: Prospects and limits in the search for mental models.

TLDR

Mental models are employed across neural information processing, manual control, decision making, problem solving, and cognitive science, with various taxonomies and empirical evidence examined. The paper reviews mental‑model arguments from alternative viewpoints and proposes a research framework integrating these perspectives. The authors review studies that manipulate knowledge type and form, as well as transfer‑of‑training experiments that indirectly illuminate mental‑model characteristics. The proposed framework identifies the most salient unanswered questions about mental models by analyzing interactions among its dimensions.

Abstract

To place the arguments advanced in this paper in alternative points of view with regard to mental models are reviewed. Use of the construct in areas such as neural information processing, manual control, decision making, problem solving, and cognitive science are discussed. Also reviewed are several taxonomies of mental models. The available empirical evidence for answering questions concerning the nature and usage of mental models is then discussed. A variety of studies are reviewed where the type and form of humans' knowledge have been manipulated. Also considered are numerous transfer of training studies whose results provide indirect evidence of the nature of mental models. The alternative perspectives considered and the spectrum of empirical evidence are combined to suggest a framework within which research on mental models can be viewed. By considering interactions of dimensions of this framework, the most salient unanswered questions can be identified.