As part of a study program I am involved in, I have been asked to present
on the topic of Mental Models and their significance to HCI (Human
Computer Interaction, also known as Human Factors). I'm interested in
what others think about mental models, and my emerging understandings as
described below.
I first came across Mental Models through Senge's 'Fifth Discipline' and
came to understand them as deeply seated beliefs that we hold and are
(mostly) unaware of, but which influence our every action/reaction and
shape our interpretations of everything around us.
(I don't know anything about 'brain theory', but I'm starting to wonder if
there is a part of the brain that stores these models, and that our
interpretations of events, influenced by our mental models, follow similar
'brain patterns' every time.)
In the HCI literature I have also seen the term 'mental models' used to
refer to the mental constructs we build for ourselves of complex and
(often) invisible connections/interactions (eg complex organisation
computer networks, the complex computer systems in nuclear power stations
etc) so that we can make sense of these and manage them. Some of the HCI
literature suggests that these systems are actually becoming too complex
for any one individual to successfully create a full mental model of them.
This could have disastrous consequences in, for example, the event of a
nuclear accident, as having an incomplete mental model may actually
influence the individual to react in an inappropriate way (but of course
not ill intentioned), exacerbating rather than containing the situation.
I orginally saw these two 'definitions' of mental models as contradictory,
but I am now beginning to see them as the opposite ends of a continuum of
'beliefs'. On the one end the deep seated, rarely changed (and very
infrequently challenged) beliefs that guide our everyday living and on the
other end those beliefs that make sense of the current world in which we
have to operate, but which can be easily changed (or even replaced) as new
information comes to hand.
Thank you for your time, and letting me ramble on somewhat (it has been an
important part of clarifying my thinking). I have a lot of respect for
the contributors to this list (I tend to be a lurker myself) and would be
really excited if I generated a response.
Kind regards,
Pamela
--Pamela McGillivray <pmcg@acslink.aone.net.au>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>