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Physics versus graphics as an organizing dichotomy in cognition.
Halely Balaban1, Tomer D Ullman2
1Department of Education and Psychology, The Open University of Israel, Raanana 4353701, Israel.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
|June 1, 2025
Summary
Human intuitive reasoning splits into physical simulation and graphical rendering, mirroring engineered systems. This cognitive split explains diverse findings in mental imagery and visual perception.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Neuroscience
- Computational Modeling
Background:
- Humans construct world models for prediction and explanation.
- Engineered systems often split real-time dynamics simulation into physics and graphics.
- Intuitive reasoning may share this fundamental simulation split.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose that human intuitive simulation involves a physics/graphics split.
- To demonstrate this split's basis in cognitive division of labor.
- To explain diverse cognitive phenomena using this distinction.
Main Methods:
- Conceptual analysis of cognitive systems.
- Integration of findings from cognitive science and neuroscience.
- Theoretical framework development.
Main Results:
- A fundamental split between physical simulation and graphical rendering in human cognition is proposed.
- This separation is rooted in a natural division of cognitive labor.
- The physics/graphics distinction unifies findings in aphantasia, visual streams, and object tracking.
Conclusions:
- The proposed physics/graphics distinction offers a unifying framework for understanding intuitive world modeling.
- This framework sheds light on the neural and cognitive underpinnings of perception and imagery.
- Future research can explore the precise mechanisms of this cognitive division.
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