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The secrets of spatial cognition: How do our brains navigate the world?
In cognitive psychology, spatial cognition refers to the ability to acquire, organize, use, and revise knowledge about the spatial environment. This is not just about the space itself, but more importantly, how animals (including humans) behave in it and the knowledge they build. These abilities enable individuals to manage basic and higher-level cognitive tasks in daily life. Nowadays, many fields, such as cognitive psychology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, geographic information science, cartography, etc., are jointly studying spatial cognition, especially its manifestation in humans.
The study of spatial cognition helps connect cognitive psychology and neuroscience, as scientists seek to understand the role of spatial cognition in the brain and its biological basis.
In daily life, human spatial cognition is closely related to how to describe the surrounding environment, find directions in new environments, and plan paths. Researchers use participant reports, performance measures, and other methods to understand the human mindset. The recent rise in popularity of virtual reality technology has allowed researchers to more accurately examine participants' spatial cognition in highly controlled environments.
Influenced by psychological perspectives, how people behave in space is critical. The cognitive maps they use are the most evolved form of spatial cognition. Using these cognitive maps, people are able to store and use information about landmarks and the paths between them. This knowledge can come from many sources, including visual-motor coordination, map symbols, verbal descriptions, and computer pointing systems.
According to Montello, space implicitly refers to the individual's body and its associated behaviors.
Space can be divided into several types, including space with shapes smaller than the body, space beyond the body but visible, environmental space through mobile learning, and geographic space through mapping. Understanding of these spaces is very important for human navigation. However, when space is simulated by the brain, it can lead to cognitive distortions.
For example, the perception of distance and position may become distorted. People perceive distance differently when considering the distance between a location and another location with high cognitive salience. These distortions can affect everyday navigation and can have a disconcerting effect, particularly when negotiating curves or obstacles in cities. This disconnect between the subjectivity of perception and objective distance reveals the complexity of human spatial cognition.
Levels of spatial knowledge
The classic theory proposed by Siegel and White in 1975 presents three types of spatial knowledge: landmark knowledge, path knowledge, and survey knowledge. These three are the steps in the development of spatial knowledge, and each stage represents a deeper understanding of the environment. Landmarks are objects that are prominent in the environment and do not initially involve any metric relationship. As one travels between landmarks, path knowledge evolves, which is information about the order in which the landmarks are connected. Finally, the investigative knowledge that results from familiarity with the environment integrates landmarks and paths and relates them to a fixed coordinate system.
However, new research challenges this step-wise model, demonstrating that investigative knowledge can also be built after some exploration as familiarity with the environment increases. According to Montello's new framework, changes in spatial knowledge with experience are mostly quantitative rather than qualitative, that is, different types of spatial knowledge simply become more accurate and confident.
Establishment of a reference framework
In order to construct spatial knowledge, people need to create a cognitive reality. The environmental framework based on a reference point is usually divided into egocentric and allocentric frameworks. The egocentric frame considers the position of objects relative to the individual's body, whereas the allocentric frame is based on the relative positions of surrounding objects. The combination of these frameworks allows people to better navigate their environment, especially when they need to communicate with others.
Individual Differences and Spatial Cognition
There are obvious differences between individuals in different environments. People often have a preference for one frame of reference over another, with some preferring a pathway view and others a survey view. These differences arise not only from the individuals themselves, but are also influenced by environmental characteristics.
These findings highlight the importance of diverse navigation strategies in everyday life, with various types of spatial knowledge and the roles they play in different tasks being crucial.
Distortions and cognitive errors
Distortions in spatial cognition are systematic errors that occur when people use maps or other spatial representations, resulting in biases in their cognitive maps. For example, people’s estimates of distances between cities, which are often influenced by geographic boundaries or other central landmarks, show more significant systematic errors. The presence of cognitive distortions creates challenges for people in spatial perception, especially in the estimation of distances and angles.
The influence of gender on spatial cognition
Gender differences have been found in some studies to be associated with spatial cognition abilities. Males tend to perform better than females on certain spatial tests, which may be related to sex-specific patterns of hippocampal size. Such findings extend beyond mammals and may also be found in other species; for example, studies have shown that male squids have better spatial cognition under certain conditions.
The core of navigation
Navigation is the ability of animals (including humans) to locate, track, and follow paths to a goal. It requires the formation of a cognitive map of the environment with the help of landmarks in the body and environment. Humans typically switch between egocentric and allocentric frames during navigation, a complex process that highlights the mystery and importance of spatial cognition.
As research into spatial cognition deepens, will we be able to better understand our place and actions in this vast world?
