ABSTRACT
The human mind is continuously generating internal mental representations of our environment. These representations are crucially important for our reasoning ability, yet it is still unclear how our environment is represented in the brain. Following a brief introduction of the different possible formats that a representation can take, the chapter proceeds with an in-depth discussion of the mental model theory, evidence supporting it, and some limitations. It then proceeds with a discussion of the more recently developed probabilistic approaches and with a further elaboration of the classic System 1 versus System 2 distinction. Evidence related to human reasoning processes are discussed by relating these processes to several findings involving inductive and deductive reasoning. The former section focuses on hypothesis testing and the latter on classic conditional and syllogistic reasoning processes. An in-depth discussion of the neural basis of reasoning processes is also included. Finally, the chapter highlights some of the limitations of classic reasoning research by focusing on informal reasoning processes, fallacies, and by introducing a Bayesian approach as an alternative. Finally, the chapter closes by reflecting on whether humans are rational beings.
