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From map to reality: How does your brain build a mental map?
In cognitive psychology, spatial cognition is defined as the acquisition, organization, use and revision of knowledge about the spatial environment. It's not just the space itself, but how animals (including humans) behave in space and the knowledge they build. These abilities allow individuals to perform basic as well as advanced cognitive tasks in daily life. Various disciplines, such as cognitive psychology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, etc., are working together to deeply understand the spatial cognition of different species, especially humans. It can be seen that the study of spatial cognition also builds a bridge between cognitive psychology and neuroscience.
Scientists are working together to unravel the role spatial cognition plays in the brain and determine its neurobiological basis.
In humans, spatial cognition is closely related to how people describe their environment, find their way around new environments, and plan paths. Therefore, many studies are based on participants' reports and performance measures, aiming to identify the cognitive reference frames that enable them to perform tasks. In this context, the implementation of virtual reality is becoming increasingly popular, as it provides an opportunity for participants to face unknown environments in a highly controlled environment.
Development of spatial knowledge
The classic method proposed by Siegel and White in 1975 defined the acquisition of spatial knowledge into three types: landmark knowledge, path knowledge and panoramic knowledge.
In this framework, landmarks can be understood as eye-catching objects in the environment that are initially remembered without any metric relationship involved.
While driving between landmarks, route knowledge develops, which can be viewed as sequence information connecting landmarks. As familiarity with the environment increases, so-called panoramic knowledge is developed, integrating landmarks with paths and establishing measurement relationships in an absolute coordinate system. This led to the development of abilities such as taking shortcuts. Recent research has challenged this stepped model of acquiring spatial knowledge, noting that panoramic knowledge may be established even when new environments are not explored deeply.
Spatial classification
Spaces can be classified according to their degree of expansion. Montello divides it into four categories: shape space, visual space, environmental space and geographical space. Shape space is the smallest and refers to the area occupied by the human body. Visual space refers to a space outside the body that can still be fully visualized without moving, such as a room. Environmental space is a space that, due to its large size, can only be explored through movement, cities being an example. The geographical space is so vast that it can only be understood through map representation.
Reference frame
In order to construct spatial knowledge, people construct a cognitive reality in their minds, which is a reference frame. A common distinction is between egocentric and allocentric frames of reference. The egocentric frame of reference is rooted in the body, whereas the allocentric frame of reference focuses on surrounding objects or landmarks. Additionally, there is a geocentric reference frame, which is characterized by encoding space independent of the observer's position.
Differences in these frames of reference cause information acquired while navigating to be encoded in different ways, affecting our memory.
Individual differences
In terms of spatial experience and spatial cognition, the differences between different individuals are quite significant. Some people prefer a route view, while others prefer a survey view. Research shows that people who prefer a path perspective are also more likely to use an egocentric frame of reference when describing space.
Distortion phenomenon
Systematic errors also exist in spatial cognition. Cognitive distortions occur when people try to estimate distances or angles. In the process, representations of mental space and thus knowledge suffer systematic biases. For example, when estimating distances, subjective assessments between different landmarks on a map are often influenced by their salient features.
Distance and angle estimation errors occur in all age groups, especially when the angle between two objects exceeds 90 degrees, even in the same environment.
Encoding method
There are many strategies that can be used to spatially encode environments, often mixed with each other on the same task. Some studies have shown that when participants learn the locations of streets and houses from interactive maps, their memory performance differs between relative and absolute tasks.
Conclusion
From map to reality, how do we build these mental maps in our minds? Are there unexplored inner mechanisms hidden behind each of our navigations?
