Knowledge Representation: Beyond Mental Models (Part II)

Mental Models Series

One can regard the mind as a mirror which mirrors what a person perceives, however the representations don’t necessarily reflect the reality faithfully, but are simplified to the degree we are able to incorporate the reality within our mental structures and their content. We can assume that the mind represents to some degree the physical as well the inner reality, such representations being hold within the mental space – the combined aggregation of such representations. Of interest are especially mental space’s basis units and their further aggregations.

The most important unit is the one of concept. A concept is an idea having a given meaning or set of meanings, considering that concepts can have different meanings when framed in different contexts, where the context is the situation or frame in which the specific meaning can be extrapolated. A concept can be associated with multiple language-specific and context-dependent labels, where a label can be a symbol, a name or a phrase used to identify the concept. The labels associated with a concept belong to the same class of meaning as they point to the same meaning.

Meaning is by itself a unit, denoting the (personal) interpretations we associate with perceptions, concepts, symbols, events, beliefs, opinions, thoughts, understandings or aggregates of them. Meaning is formed rather by the relations existing between these elements and the place they occupy in the network formed by their relations. Think of a complex network of such components in which the associations between the components together with the components allow us grouping them together in units (of meaning), which by aggregation can form further units over and over.

Typically, a unit of meaning is associated with a concept within a given context. Meaning is created within this complex network, each change in the network having the potential to result in a change of meaning that can further propagate into the network and lead thus to further changes, though usually the changes and their impact are small, almost neglectable.

Another type of unit of meaning is represented by the mental models we form to explain, describe or model reality’s phenomena. When one attempts externalizing a mental model into a form of representation then it becomes an external model, multiple external models may thus result depending on the level of abstraction or understanding used. A mental model has the role of delimiting the scaffold that attempts explaining the concept. The essence of understanding a concept is having a mental model that reflects the structure of that concept and the meanings associated with it.

In the attempt to understand the reality, we are forced to advance theories on how the phenomena work. A theory is a reasonable explanation for facts, conditions and events carrying with it the various assumptions (ideas accepted as true) and beliefs we hold, directly or indirectly. A theory can be associated with one or more models, and thus further with mental models.

Several (mental) models can be grouped within a broader structure called a view, structure that reflects our beliefs on how one or more related concepts depict the reality. When the concepts represent the backbone of a domain then the view becomes a worldview. When together with the (mental) models are considered the theories as well other tools used in the process one talks about a paradigm. Paradigm shifts involve fundamental changes in the basis concepts, theories or models of a domain, and thus can a greater impact within our networks of meaning.

The concepts considered by all these (meta-)structures have a representation also within our mental space, even if the space can’t be clearly delimited.

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Disclaimer: Most of the definitions were adapted from the Cambridge Dictionary, however there can be important deviations from the respective source.