Mental representation of counterfactual thinking: from iconic minimum to abstract maximum

Abstract

The aim of this contribution is to provide a state-of-the-art concerned with the mental representation of counterfactual thinking. Counterfactuals are defined from the perspective of cognitive psychology as reasoning processes that consider alternative situations to a factual situation. That is, counterfactual thoughts are conditional thoughts that negate a given fact. Therefore, the key problem of counterfactual mental representation is the representation of negation, its mental modeling and derived inferences. In this context, four prominent findings and three main open issues are revised. Our main conclusion states that counterfactual representation is a function of working memory load and probably operates on the basis of an abstraction gradient. That is, iconic representations might suffice for lower loads and abstract representations might be required for higher working memory loads. Suggestions for a research agenda on counterfactuals are presented. Such agenda is concerned with further theoretical developments and experimental adjustments.