Shuttling Between Depictive Models and Abstract Rules: Induction and Fallback

Schwartz, Daniel L.; Black, John B.

doi:10.1207/s15516709cog2004_1

Cited by 212 publications

(202 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Such mental simulations may tap tacit or implicit knowledge about physical constraints such as object constancy, solidity, or inertia that may be present early in life. Schwartz and Black [56] argued that people may fall back on imagistic mental models in situations where they do not have adequate explicit knowledge. However, although implicit knowledge may be activated during mental simulation, it may not be consciously accessible or open to reflection.…”

Section: Common Mechanism?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of mental transformation abilities

Frick

Möhring

Newcombe

2014

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

129

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Mental representation and transformation of spatial information is often examined with mental rotation tasks, which require deciding whether a rotated image is the same or the mirror version of an upright image. Recent research with infants shows early discrimination of objects from mirror image versions. However, even at age 4, many children perform near chance level on more standard measures. Similar age discrepancies can be observed in other domains, including perspective taking, theory of mind, and intuitive physics. These paradoxical results raise the questions of how performance relates to competence, and how to conceptualize developmental change.There may be a common underlying mechanism: the development of the ability to imagine things and mentally transform them in a prospective fashion. Keywords: cognitive development, mental rotation, theory of mind, intuitive physics, perspective taking, simulationRunning head: DEVELOPMENT OF MENTAL TRANSFORMATION ABILITIES 3 One of the most impressive skills of the human species is an ability to represent and mentally transform the shapes of objects. People can generate mental images of twodimensional shapes or three-dimensional objects, and can transform them in various ways, e.g., rotating, bending, or folding them [1]. Such flexible representations are vital for making predictions regarding the positions of moving objects, for example to avoid collisions when crossing a street. They also allow for anticipating the effects of actions when manipulating objects or using tools. Furthermore, the ability to perform mental spatial transformations predicts number and math skills [2,3]. Thus, determining the origins and development of mental transformations is a central and topical problem in cognitive science, with translational implications for intervention. However, research on this issue has led to paradoxical findings, with infants showing remarkable abilities but young children failing on seemingly similar tasks. In the present article we put these contrasting results in context with similar findings in other domains, and suggest an underlying mechanism. Age Discrepancies in Mental TransformationMuch of the previous research on mental transformation has focused on a specific kind of spatial transformation, termed mental rotation (MR), which refers to imagining a rotational movement of an object (or array of objects) in 2-or 3-dimensional space. In a classic MR task [4], participants must decide whether a rotated image is the same as a comparison image, or its mirror image. In developmental research, this paradigm has been adapted for the use with children and even infants, with oddly contrasting results. Studies with Preschoolers and Young ChildrenRunning head: DEVELOPMENT OF MENTAL TRANSFORMATION ABILITIES 4 Although Marmor [5,6] found that 4-to 5-year-olds were able to perform MR, there has been controversy about her conclusions [7]. A follow-up study employing the same procedure with different stimuli failed to replicate Marmor's results [8]. Other studie...

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Section: Common Mechanism?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of mental transformation abilities

Frick

Möhring

Newcombe

2014

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

129

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“…Gesture could, for example, draw attention to unhelpful features of the problem. Schwartz and Black (1996) found that adults who were allowed to gesture while solving gear problems used a strategy in which they modeled the movement of each individual gear, often in their gestures. In contrast, adults who were prevented from gesturing generated rule-based strategies, which are a more efficient way of solving the gear task (Alibali, Spencer & Kita, 2004, as described in Alibali, 2005.…”

Section: How General Is Gesture's Effect On Learning?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Gesturing makes learning last

2008

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“…Gesturing also provides kinaesthetic and visual feedback that can directly aid problem-solving. People can use gesture to work through different solutions to a problem and gather information about the alternatives through the visual and motor feedback of their own gestures [36].…”

Section: Gesture and Thoughtmentioning

confidence: 99%

A word in the hand: action, gesture and mental representation in humans and non-human primates

Cartmill

Beilock

Goldin‐Meadow

2012

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

145

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The movements we make with our hands both reflect our mental processes and help to shape them. Our actions and gestures can affect our mental representations of actions and objects. In this paper, we explore the relationship between action, gesture and thought in both humans and non-human primates and discuss its role in the evolution of language. Human gesture (specifically representational gesture) may provide a unique link between action and mental representation. It is kinaesthetically close to action and is, at the same time, symbolic. Non-human primates use gesture frequently to communicate, and do so flexibly. However, their gestures mainly resemble incomplete actions and lack the representational elements that characterize much of human gesture. Differences in the mirror neuron system provide a potential explanation for non-human primates' lack of representational gestures; the monkey mirror system does not respond to representational gestures, while the human system does. In humans, gesture grounds mental representation in action, but there is no evidence for this link in other primates. We argue that gesture played an important role in the transition to symbolic thought and language in human evolution, following a cognitive leap that allowed gesture to incorporate representational elements.

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Shuttling Between Depictive Models and Abstract Rules: Induction and Fallback

Cited by 212 publications

References 46 publications

Development of mental transformation abilities

Development of mental transformation abilities

Gesturing makes learning last

A word in the hand: action, gesture and mental representation in humans and non-human primates

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