Drawing as a versatile cognitive tool

Drawing is a cognitive tool that makes the invisible contents of mental life visible. Humans use this to produce remarkable variety pictures, from realistic portraits schematic diagrams. Despite and prevalence drawn images, psychological mechanisms enable drawings be so versatile have yet fully explored. In Review, we synthesize contemporary work in multiple areas psychology, computer science neuroscience examines processes involved drawing production comprehension. This body findings suggests balance contributions perception, memory social inference during varies depending on situation, resulting some are more other abstract. We also consider as research for investigating various aspects cognition, well role has facilitating learning communication. Taken together, information about how used different contexts illuminates central visually grounded abstractions human thought behaviour. people convey visual across contexts. Fan colleagues discuss key considerations tool.