18 August Today's term from psychology is Cognitive Model.

There are two different meanings to this term.

Psychologists, cognitive scientists, anthropologists, those who study artificial intelligence and machine learning, and others who study human behavior will often make a model of some aspect of mental behavior to help them understand and predict how people behave, sometimes so machines can copy that behavior. This is the first definition.

Such models are called Cognitive Models, and come in a number of different forms. They can range from box-and-arrow diagrams to a set of equations to software programs that interact with their environment much the same way humans do.

These kinds of cognitive models tend to be focused on a single phenomenon or process, such as list learning, or on how two or more processes interact, such as visual search and decision making, or to make behavioral predictions for a specific task or tool, such as how instituting a new software package will affect productivity.

The second, less commonly used meaning refers to the internalized model of the external world that each person constructs mentally to help them exist and thrive in this world.