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Psychological Perspectives on Diagrams and their Users

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Book cover Diagrammatic Representation and Reasoning

Abstract

How is using diagrams related to things that happen inside our heads? The study of diagrammatic reasoning often focuses on computational models of diagram use rather than on studies of human performance. This chapter presents a survey of the empirical and theoretical research that has investigated these processes. It considers the origins, interpretation and manipulation of diagrams, treating diagrams as a notational system that can be used and studied in an experimental context. This is a review of the experimental psychology literature rather than a complete theoretical framework, and is particularly intended as an introduction to the field for those who are commencing research projects into diagrammatic reasoning, having come from a discipline other than cognitive psychology.

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Authors
  1. Alan F. Blackwell
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Fordham University, 441 East Fordham Road, Bronx, NY, 10458, USA

    Michael Anderson MSc, PhD

  2. School of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Monash University, PO Box 26, Clayton Campus, Victoria, 3800, Australia

    Bernd Meyer Dr rer nat

  3. Department of Computer Science, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK

    Patrick Olivier MA, MSc, PhD

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© 2002 Springer-Verlag London

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Blackwell, A.F. (2002). Psychological Perspectives on Diagrams and their Users. In: Anderson, M., Meyer, B., Olivier, P. (eds) Diagrammatic Representation and Reasoning. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0109-3_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0109-3_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-85233-242-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-0109-3

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