Mental models

These are internal (psychological) representations people hold of and about the world and pertain to either real or imaginary events, situations, or any state of affairs, etc. “Mental models” ‘simulate’ the effects of possible actions in the (real) world and are crucial to planning and prediction.

They can be constructed from perception or generated by thinking, for example, during discussion or argument, etc. As well as concrete things they can be abstract, representing situations which cannot be visualized. Such models may be likened (figuratively) to an architect’s scale model or plan, or a physicist’s diagram.

Cf. schema.