This review points out confusion surrounding the concept and use of mental models from the viewpoints of both human factors and psychology. Noted are the ways in which the notion is conceived according to the needs and approaches of different specialties, and the relationships of mental models to other forms of knowledge representation are considered. The manner in which the human factors community has and should utilize the concept in applications across a number of fields is addressed and discussed in relation to the psychological perspective.

The ICE model account (e.g., Murnane & Phelps, 1993; Murnane, Phelps, & Malmberg, 1999) of environmental context (EC)-dependent recognition memory is described, and new predictions concerning the effect of multiple presentation ECs are derived. Experiment 1 tested the ICE model predictions in relation to predictions derived from the cue-overload hypothesis (e.g., Watkins, 1979). In addition, the sensitivity of recognition reaction time (RT) as a measure of EC-dependent memory effects was examined. Minimal support was obtained for the ICE model, but greater support was provided for the cue-overload hypothesis. In Experiment 2, further manipulations were employed to test ICE model predictions and the cue-overload hypothesis, with relevance to the mental reinstatement and outshining hypotheses. Again support for the cue-overload hypothesis was obtained, and an EC reinstatement effect with RTs was detected. The ICE model is considered in respect of these findings.

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To assess mild head injury effects in adolescent soccer players, neuropsychological performance across school team soccer players, rugby players and noncontact sport players was assessed in a quasi-experimental cross-sectional design. One hundred eighty-five males were tested (ages 13-16; response rate 55%) and 86 contributed data to the analyses after exclusion for recent concussion and overlapping sports participation. Soccer players showed lower premorbid intellectual functioning, but neither soccer players nor rugby players showed neuropsychological decrement compared with noncontact sport players. Cumulative heading did not predict neuropsychological performance. While no specific attribute of soccer was linked with neuropsychological impairment, head injury predicted reduced attention for all participants.

Footballers run the risk of incurring mild head injury from a variety of sources, including the intentional use of the head to play the ball, known as heading. This paper presents a preliminary exploratory analysis of data collected to examine whether cumulative incidence of mild head injury, or cumulative heading frequency, are related to neuropsychological functioning in male adolescent footballers. In a quasi-experimental cross-sectional design, neuropsychological test scores of school team footballers were compared with those of similarly aged rugby players and noncontact sport players. Cumulative mild head injury incidence was estimated using self-reports, and cumulative heading was estimated using a combination of observation and self-reports. No participants had sustained a head injury within 3 months of testing. There was no relationship between head injury and neuropsychological performance, and there were no decrements in either the footballers or the rugby players in comparison with the noncontact sport players. Within the footballers, cumulative heading did not predict any of the neuropsychological test scores. These findings indicate the absence of neuropsychological impairment arising due to cumulative mild head injury incidence, or cumulative heading. Although these null findings may be reassuring to players, parents, and football organizers, we stress that they are preliminary. Further data is being collected from the same populations to provide more reliable effect estimates.