Environmental Psychology Lecture Notes: Cognitive Maps & Way Finding

8/2/2019 Environmental Psychology Lecture Notes: Cognitive Maps & Way Finding

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8/2/2019 Environmental Psychology Lecture Notes: Cognitive Maps & Way Finding

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Two main types of spatial knowledge: 

  Survey knowledge: memory of relationships between locations, more of a gestalt view

  Route knowledge: sequence in memory about how to get from a starting location to a next place

Depends on the person and the particular environments

Questions 

How much of cognitive mapping is learned through experience? Most of it.

How is learning from physical maps different from actually moving through the environment? North and

South

How do we develop a cognitive map?

Developing cognitive maps 

One view: we create a complete internal representation of a spatial area in question

Alternate view: we process environmental cures as we move through a space

Differences in Cognitive Maps 

Do some people have special cognitive mapping abilities?Familiarity & experience

Age differences

-Nature of cognitive maps changes with development

-Spatial skills may decline with age: decrease in ability to inhibit irrelevant information

Harder to keep out things we don't need

Cognitive Maps 

Gender differences

-Cognitive maps are equally accurate, but stylistically different

-Women include more districts/landmarks, while men focus on path structure

-Local features (ecocentric/landmarks) vs. global perspective (allocentric/survey knowledge strategy)More allocentric-men

More ecocentric-women

Preference

-Both men & women can give & use directions in various ways, but men are more likely to use compass

directions & distance estimates, while women are more likely to focus on landmarks

Genetic vs. social

Orientation & Wayfinding

Orientation: The process of locating where we are at and deciding where to go next

Wayfinding: The process of getting from where you are at to a planned destination

Wayfinding includes:

1. Orienting to where you are at that moment

2. Selecting a route

3. Monitoring the route

4. Recognizing the destination

Cognitive Mapping & Wayfinding 

We may process information at transition points that provide "on the spot" guidance

Cab drivers can often draw poor maps, but can find a location by " I know when I get there" wayfinding

8/2/2019 Environmental Psychology Lecture Notes: Cognitive Maps & Way Finding

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Research by Heft compared

-vistas only

-transitions only

-complete film of a route

Results: found that sequence of transition points is very important

Assisting Cognitive Mapping & Wayfinding

Integrate information, like signs, into transition points

You want signs there, at transition points

Use some redundancy (more than repetition)

Develop integrated information systems using key words, maps, graphics, and color

Employ you-are-here (YAH) maps

Improving YAH maps

Psychologist Levine has developed a number of ideas:

Label parts in a consistent & understandable manner

Provide orientation by creating map parallel to the ground or using "Forward-up" equivalenceUse Structure-Matching when possible

-At least 2 features in the map should match 2 features in the environment

Question 

How do you think common use of GPS satellite navigation systems could affect wayfinding strategies

and cognitive mapping?