Spatial Cognition and Cognitive Maps

What do we use to construct cognitive maps?

1. Landmark Knowledge 2. Route Knowledge 3. Survey Knowledge

Different types of spaces (Tversky)

1. Space of the body 2. Space around the body 3. Space of navigation

Cognitive map

A mental representation of our knowledge of the layout of environments that allows us to navigate those environments.

Tolman: Cognitive maps in rats and men

Chose paths that lead more directly to the reward rather than the paths that were perceptually more similar Rats had spatial understanding and overview of the maze. People learn about places in abstract ways-not just a set of responses that allows us to navigate around

Symmetry heuristic

Figures are remembered as being more regular and even than they really are. Individual features; landmarks

Alignment heuristic

Figures are remembered as more lined up and orderly than they really are. Relative to each other; we line things up to be even with each other in a way they are not in the real world.

Systematic distortions of spatial relations

Heuristics - A simple rule of thumb - a useful problem-solving procedure - an informal rule --Usually adequate to get you to the right answer. --Some errors-but are systematic and predictable. Symmetry heuristic Alignment heuristic Rotation heuristic

Spatial cognition

How people represent and navigate in and through space

Space of the body

Keeping track of where your body parts are located in space. Critical for interaction with the physical environment.

Space of navigation

Larger spaces that cannot be taken in all at once. -We walk through, explore, and travel to and through these spaces. Examples: campus, city of Boston. These spaces are built of over time with repeated experience. -Involves integration of different sources.

Route knowledge

Memory for sequences of landmarks and relationships between them. Gained from navigating an environment. The view from within the space. Tends to involve egocentric directions (in front, behind, to the left or right).

Survey knowledge

Memory for the bird's eye view, usually learned from maps. Can come directly, can come from studying maps, can be communicated verbally. Used cardinal directions (N,S,E,W). View from above.

Rotation heuristic

Natural orientations are remembered as more like their frames of reference than they really are. We tend to rotate figures N/S or E/W in memory. Relative to frame of reference

Are spatial representations dependent on how they were learned? (Taylor & Tversky, 1992)

Participants read one of two descriptions of a fictitious New England town: -Survey Description (perspective from above, relative positions of landmarks described using canonical directions). -Route Description (perspective from within, relative position of landmarks described as if individual is moving through the region). Asked true or false questions: --Survey: Facing south on Mountain road, the gas station is to the southwest. --Route: Traveling on Mountain Road toward the River Highway, you'll encounter the gas station on your right. Theory: if you made a cognitive map based on survey information, it is easier to get survey information back out. Same thing for route information. Findings: both survey information and route information were equally accurate and had similar response times.

Tversky and Taylor (1992) Conclusions

People could construct cognitive maps from verbal descriptions using route or survey information. -"Perspective free". -The same spatial representation is made. Flexible representation, not tied to original learning situation. -Abstract spatial mental model as opposed to a static model. -Adaptive value.

Possible explanations of findings from Burnett & Lee study

The findings: -Compared to the guidance group, participants in the traditional group: --correctly identified more scenes --Were more accurate in the ordering of those images --Drew more accurate, more detailed maps Why?? -Less cognitive effort? Less attention? -Less opportunity to get lost? -Less access to survey information? -Less stress?

Effect of Vehicle Navigation Systems on Formation of Cognitive Maps

The study: Drive 4 routes in a driving simulator - -Traditional group - using a paper map -Guidance group - verbal instructions read to participants at specific points in the route The tests: 1. Scene recognition -Testing landmark knowledge (example: did you see this tree, this building, etc.) 2. Ordering remembered scenes - Testing route knowledge-the relationship between the landmarks. 3. Sketch a map The findings: -Compared to the guidance group, participants in the traditional group: --correctly identified more scenes --Were more accurate in the ordering of those images --Drew more accurate, more detailed maps

Distortions of Cognitive Maps

Top-down processes contribute to distortions in spatial representations. Examples: -Inaccurate beliefs on if Seattle or Boston is farther north -Thinking South America is directly south of North American (it is southeast) -Distance between intervening cities. -Distance between semantically related landmarks.

Distortions of spatial relations

We tend to regularize our environments in our mental representations of them Imagery (as with other cognitive processes) is constructive and not just copies of external stimuli. Influenced by top down processing

Landmark knowledge

memory for particular objects or locations in the environment. Example: the prudential center in Boston.

Space around the body

the area immediately around you-your immediate surroundings. The space you can access in one encounter