Interpretation as mental modelling: A vocabulary
15-minute talk
Interpret Europe Online Symposium on “The role of narratives in 21st century heritage interpretation”, 26–27 February 2026
Abstract
As the professional conversation about heritage interpretation develops, it embraces concerns, concepts, and terms from various sources. For example, the announcement of this symposium refers variously to ‘frames’, ‘narratives’, ‘stories’, ‘themes’, and ‘brain scripts’. Individual definitions notwithstanding, it remains largely unclear how these terms relate to each other and why we should use them and not others. To help assemble a coherent and user-friendly professional language, and to address the current lack of an organising conception, I propose that we describe interpretation as an intersubjective practice of mental modelling. To speak of interpretation, then, is to talk about mental models, their relationships and characteristics, and how we shape them. By extension, interpretive themes are the templates for the mental model of a given phenomenon; narratives and stories are dynamic mental models of situations; and brain scripts model how to act in given situations; and so on.
