{"product_id":"mental-models-9780521273916","title":"Mental Models","description":"\u003cp\u003eMental Models offers nothing less than a unified theory of the major properties of comprehension  inference  and consciousness. In spirited and graceful prose  Johnson-Laird argues that we apprehend the world by building inner mental replicas of the relations among objects and events that concern us. The mind is essentially a model-building device that can itself be modeled on a digital computer. This book provides both a blueprint for building such a model and numerous important illustrations of how to do it. In several key areas of cognition  Johnson-Laird shows how an explanation based on mental modeling is clearly superior to previous theory. For example  he argues compellingly that deductive reasoning does not take place by tacitly applying the rules of logic  but by mentally manipulating models of the states of affairs from which inferences are drawn. Similarly  linguistic comprehension is best understood not as a matter of applying inference rules to propositions derived from sentences  but rather as the minds effort to construct and update a model of the situation described by a text or a discourse. Most provocative  perhaps  is Johnson-Lairds theory of the minds necessarily incomplete model of itself allows only a partial control over the many unconscious and parallel processes of cognition. This an extraordinarily rich book  providing a coherent account of much recent experimental work in cognitive psychology  along with lucid explanations of relevant theory in linguistics  computer science  and philosophy Not since Miller  Galanter  and Pribrams classic Plans and the Structure of Behavior has a book in cognitive science combined such sweep  style  and good sense. Like its distinguished predecessor  Mental Models may well serve to fix a point of view for a generation.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67924507787317,"sku":"ByrdShop_0521273919","price":247.85,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780521273916.jpg?v=1794134918","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/mental-models-9780521273916","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}