Mental models represent explicitly what is true, but not what is false. These characteristics lead naive reasoners into systematic errors. The greater the number of models that a task elicits, and the greater the complexity of individual models, the poorer performance is.
Mental models provide a unified account of deductive, probabilistic, and modal reasoning.
Reasoning based on conditional assertions. Counterfactual reasoning and reasoning about hypothetical or imaginary cases. Informal everyday inferences and arguments. Relational reasoning, including spatial reasoning and temporal reasoning. Modal reasoning about what is possible and what is necessary.