Strategies of Constructing Preferred Mental Models in Spatial Relational Inference

In investigating representations and processes underlying relational inference, there is much evidence best explained in the framework of mental model theory (see, e.g., Evans, Newstead, & Byrne, 1993, chap. 6). This is also true in the special case of spatial relational inference (e.g., Byrne & JohnsonLaird, 1989). In a series of experiments conducted within our research project MeMoSpace (an acroynym for Mental Models in Spatial Reasoning), we were able to confirm many older findings (like premise order effects, term order effects) and gain some new evidence on various aspects of spatial relational inference with the help of a special set of qualitative spatial relations that is described in more detail shortly (Knauff, Rauh, & Schlieder, 1995; Knauff, Rauh, Schlieder, & Strube, 1998a, 1998b; Rauh, Schlieder, & Knauff, 1997; Rauh & Schlieder, 1997).