CONTRIBUTION TO THE ANALYSIS OF THE CONCE PT OF MENTAL REPRESENTATIONIN CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY

The article contributes to the conceptual analysis of mental represent ation the study of which is a frequent theme of contemporary cognitive psychology. In the opinion of a number of authors, mental representat ion together with concepts of symbol and computation is one of the cen tral concepts of cognitive psychology. Similarly to the so far non-exi stent unified theory of cognitive processes, neither these concepts ar e used in a unified way. Attention is concentrated on the analysis of content and extent of the concept of mental representation as comprise d in psychological theories developed in dependence on the computer pa radigm. This analysis is carried out by means of the study of discrepa ncies existing in the psychological theory of mental representation; t hese are caused - among others - by different definition of this conce pt. This fact, however, is not always reflected in the corresponding p sychological terminology. From among discrepancies among different con ceptions and theories of mental representation, as well as from among discrepancies inside the more important ones, the following difference s are studied: (a) differences in opinions on differentiation of menta l representation and presentation; (b) differences in conceptions of m ental representation forms (especially different opinions on imaginati on and propositions as tools of mental representation); (c) difference s in conceptions of relation between symbolic and mental representatio n that follow from different definition of the symbol, and - in depend ence on it - of the meaning. The analysis results in determining the b asic conceptual definitions of mental representation in contemporary p sychological theory.