The mental model theory of thinking and reasoning is the focus of this Web site.
Mental models are representations in the mind of real or imaginary situations.
Mental models can be constructed from perception, imagination, or the comprehension of discourse. They underlie visual images, but they can also be abstract, representing situations that cannot be visualised. Each mental model represents a possibility. Mental models are akin to architects' models or to physicists' diagrams in that their structure is analogous to the structure of the situation that they represent, unlike, say, the structure of logical forms used in formal rule theories. Cognitive scientists have explored mental models and the mind generally.