How do organisms imagine actions before they carry them out? This step explores the cognitive foundations of mental simulation: the internal “stage” on which possible actions can be tested before they are performed.

Mental simulation can be understood as a kind of internal “reality simulator.” It allows organisms to pre-test possible actions before committing to them in the real world.

But this ability depends on several fundamental cognitive capacities: an organism must be able to represent its environment internally, must possess an intuitive understanding of physical relations, and maintain a stable sense of self that links the imagined actor to the experiencing individual.

In this step, we explore how these components work together to make mental simulation possible.

Authors: Fabian Mueller & William Palmer

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References

For the Experiment: Kleint, H. (1936). Versuche über die Wahrnehmung. Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 138, 1–35.

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