The mind at work

The Mind at work: Barbara Tversky on the primacy of spatial thinking

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Published on December 12, 2019

A conversation with cognitive psychologist Barbara Tversky on how diagrams, gestures, and even comics, help people work better together.

“I bring evidence to show that spatial thinking, acting in the world with the things in the world, is the foundation of thought.”—Barbara Tversky

Nothing can get a roomful of people to, “I see what you mean,” quicker than a whiteboard sketch of the shape of the problem you’re trying to solve and the intervention you’re proposing.

“That piece of paper becomes our product, not yours and not mine, so it’s a genuine collaboration that we’re both invested in.”
—Barbara Tversky

“The mind gets overloaded and one way we deal with that is by putting it on paper, expressing it in words, expressing it in gesture.”
—Barbara Tversky