Mental Representation
What is a mental representation?
A mental representation is a mental structure that corresponds to information held in long-term memory and that can be used to respond quickly and effectively in certain situations. This concept comes from cognitive scientist Anders Ericsson's research on expert performance.
Mental representations are patterns of information—facts, images, rules, relationships—that help us understand and interpret information, hold it in memory, organize it, analyze it, and make decisions with it. Better mental representations are what set experts apart from novices in any field.
How do mental representations create expertise?
Experts develop superior ways of organizing information through their mental representations. A chess grandmaster sees patterns and relationships on the board that a novice simply can't perceive—not because they're smarter, but because they've developed better mental structures for organizing chess information.
This superior organization appears repeatedly in studies of expert performance across domains. The expert's mental representation allows them to quickly identify what's important, recall relevant patterns from past experience, and respond effectively to complex situations.
How do mental representations apply to product discovery?
In product discovery, teams can externalize their mental representations to help everyone think more effectively. The opportunity solution tree serves this purpose—it provides a structured way to organize information about customer needs, solutions, and outcomes.
By externalizing this mental representation, teams create a shared structure that allows them to process information, make connections, and make decisions more quickly. Instead of keeping everything in individual team members' heads, the tree becomes a tool that helps the entire team develop expert-level organization of their discovery work.
Learn more:
- Why This Opportunity Solution Tree is Changing the Way Product Teams Work
Related terms:
- Opportunity Solution Tree
- Shared Understanding
- Product Discovery
Last Updated: October 25, 2025