Dynamic Assembly of Figures in Visuospatial Reasoning

Abstract. An exploratory, qualitative experiment sheds light on the depictive theory of mental imagery. The study analyzes the very operations subjects undertake when solving visuospatial tasks. Preliminary results indicate that subjects do not make use of stable mental images: instead, they continuously assemble and reassemble different perspectives through the guidance of heuristics and prototypes. These observations allow a reinterpretation of mental imagery. We want to forward the hypotheses that a) the assembly process itself is of much higher importance than usually acknowledged; b) that an assembled perspective (or figure) is defined by one’s orientation towards certain operations; and c), that heuristics and prototypes are instantiated by a heterarchical organization of mental operations