"...When I was a child, my grandmother owned an ashtray that I loved. It was a ceramic rattlesnake, and its coiled body formed the tray for the ashes. It was dark and dusty and very realistic. Decades later, while hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains, I came across the ruin of a stone house. Everything was shattered and broken. Only the chimney remained standing. I thought, I'll see if I can find a souvenir to take home, a bit of a broken dish with a design on it or some old tool. As I poked through the wreckage, at once I saw it: my grandmother's ashtray, complete and unbroken. Delighted, I reached out to take it. And then its tongue came out. I froze. Its tongue came out again. The serpent was smelling me. I carefully backed away.
Mental models have been the subject of intense research by psychologists for at least two decades. A classic one can be seen on the parking sign for the handicapped. It displays an image that we instantly recognize as a wheelchair, even though it looks very little like one. That's because we code information in an abbreviated form for quick reference. We can also create much more elaborate models. Most people, for example, have a complex model for driving that allows them to do so while talking on the phone and drinking coffee. Once models are established, they require no thought. They're efficient, which is probably why they were selected by evolution..." (link for the rest)
_________________________ "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known" - A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
_________________________ "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known" - A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
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