Description:
<jats:p>The aim of our work is to develop a theory of the mental processes underlying the communication activity of a number of subjects in a given relational context. The start point in this direction is the proposal of a knowledge representation based on the distinction between conceptual and episodic knowledge (Airenti, Bara, Colombeti 1980 a, c). Referring to paradigms of mathematical logic one can say that conceptual knowledge plays the role of a theory of the external world: It is constituted by a conceptual system, K-theory, describing entities of the external world with their general properties, mutual relations, transformation rules, etc. The relation of K-theory to the external world may be viewed as that of a theory to one of its models. From a psychological point of view, however, K-theory does not deal with the external world but with a mental representation of it. Such a representation is the actual model of K-theory and constitutes th episodic knowledge, K-model. It contains representations and mutual correlations of individuals, objects and specific facts and events. To represent change in the external world, K-model is structured into a number of temporarily correlated representations.</jats:p>