Mental Representation and Processing of Geographic Knowledge : A Computational Approach State of the Art MIRAGE Developing the Model Visual Mental Image Construction in Detail MIRAGE Implementation Conclusion and Outlook. In cognitive science mental representations of spatial knowledge are metaphorically referred to as cognitive maps. However investigations in cognitive psychology reveal that the cognitive map metaphor is inadequate and that more suitable conceptions of human spatial knowledge processing are needed. This book addresses mental processing of knowledge about geographic space from an AI point of view by presenting an experimental computational modeling approach. Results about human memory and visual mental imagery from cognitive psychology are combined with AI techniques of spatial and diagrammatic knowledge processing. The author develops the diagrammatic reasoning architecture MIRAGE as a comprehensive conception of human geographic knowledge processing.