The effects of spatial and locational cueing on the analysis of aggregate cognitive mapping data (original) (raw)
Related papers
Aggregation Issues in Cognitive Mapping
The Professional Geographer, 1997
Cognidve mapping hvolves the description of the way individuals store and process geographic information. Tlpically, cognitive mapping data are derived from individual responses and then analrzed in one of drree wavs: (1) the individual data sets are analJzed separately and only pooled for comparison (disaggregation); (2) the individual data sets are averaged md then aaallzed (collective aggregation); or (3) the individual dau sets are analvzed and the results averaged (individual aggregation). This paper compares the laner two aggregauon srrategies for analyzing coginitive mapping data using data collected in a large-scale studv of students' configurational knowledge of the citv of Swansea in the United Kingdom. It is contended that the agrregation strateg'r' adopted will have a fundamental effect upon the conclusions drawn from a study
Much cognitive mapping data consists of spatial elements such as points, lines and polygons. This makes it possible to analyze such data with traditional spatial statistics and to visualise them using cartographic techniques. Using this approach can reveal 'hidden' spatial patterns and provide quantitative evidence which can be used in identifying, understanding and explaining cognitive mapping theories. This paper examines the role of computer cartography and spatial analysis in cognitive mapping research and the most appropriate approach to their implementation. The possible contribution of Geographical Information Systems (GISs) is investigated and the development and implementation o/two stand-alone specialised packages, CMAP and MiniGAS£ are outlined.
Methodological convergence in cognitive mapping research: Investigating configurational knowledge
Thirteen tests designed to measure aspects of configurational knowledge were compared and contrasted using a repeated measures, multi-data collection and multi-data analysis approach. Respondents consisted of 279 first-year undergraduates newly resident to the study area (Swansea, Wales). Respondents completed four tests, drawn from four different groupings which were consistent in nature. Tests were varied in spatial cue-ing (the amount of information supplied) and location cueing (the amount of information requested). In addition, the data produced were subjected to systematic filtering (a set number of places were removed from the analysis) and data-defined filtering (guesses and unfamiliar places were removed from the analysis). It is demonstrated that tests produce differing results and that task demands explain the variances. It is recommended that multiple, mutually supportive tests should be used to assess individuals' configurational knowledge.
Cognitive maps: what are they and why study them?
It is often implicitly assumed by researchers that their readers understand what cognitive map and cognitive mapping are, and their justification for study. This paper differs in this respect by explaining explicitly the 'what' and 'why' questions often asked, demonstrating cognitive mapping's multidisciplinary research worth. First, it examines questions concerning what cognitive maps are, the confusion inherent from the use of the term 'map', and the usage and reasons for alternative expressions. Second, it examines the theoretical applications or conceptual research, concerning cognitive maps role in the influencing and explaining spatial behaviour; spatial choice and decision making; wayiinding and orientation; and the cognitive maps utility and role as a mnemonic and metaphorical devise; a shaper of world and local attitudes and perspectives; and for creating and coping with imaginary worlds. Third, it discusses cognitive mapping's practical and applied worth, concerning the planning of suitable living environments; advertising; crime solving; search and rescue, geographical educational issues, cartography and remote sensing; and in the designing and understanding computer interfaces and databases, especially Geographical Information Systems (GISs).
2013
The mental mapping method affords a lens into the way people produce and experience space, forms of spatial intelligence, and dynamics of human-environment relations. Mental mapping is the representation of an individual or group’s cognitive map, hand sketched and/or computer-assisted, in drafting and labeling a map or adding to and labeling an already existing map. Despite its long-term, rich, and multifaceted use across the social sciences, I found that the method’s development has been uneven and its analytics ad hoc and piecemeal. Drawing upon 32 mental sketch maps (MSM) and the interviews during which they were drafted, this paper provides an extensive review of the method, and details a total of 57 analytic components and techniques drawn from the literature and my own work in this study. I address these analytics from a critical geographic perspective in four categories to follow trends the data reveal. In my discussion I offer some future guidelines for research with MSM to continue to extend the method while growing from the body of knowledge already produced. This paper contributes a deeper understanding of how the mental maps can inform qualitative studies of people, place, and space across the social sciences.
The Effects of Individual Factors on the Formation of Cognitive Maps
Iconarp International J. of Architecture and Planning, 2017
Human's weakened bond to residential areas, compromised identity and stability of residents in residential areas, have resulted in higher rate of transfer. Individual and collective understanding of the environment could be seen as a major force in shaping that environment through the action of human choices and behavior. In this regard, Cognitive maps are of great theoretical and practical importance for understanding how humans interact with their environment. This research is aimed to investigate the effects of the individual factors on the formation of cognitive maps in the neighborhood. Research seeks to answer the question: "How and to what extent the individual factors affect the cognitive and metal maps of the residents in the neighborhood?" Research is a combination of qualitative (interview)
This article examines the development of conceptual schemata of environment-behaviour interaction since behavioural geography's inception in the late 1960s. Although these schemata have developed since then, they have remained naive and in many cases conceptually weak, lacking psychological 'depth'. It is argued that this is one of the prime reasons why behavioural geography failed to achieve academic 'take-off. Ways to increase the integrity of cognitive mapping research are examined by developing and implementing an integrative conceptual schema. This schema draws together five contemporary theories concerning cognitive map knowledge's content, structure and form, the learning strategies used to acquire such knowledge and the processes of spatial thought, and interweaves them with basic transactional theory to produce a more detailed schema of spatial thought and behaviour. It is argued that this schema, by combining contemporary theories into a more complete whole, advances transactionalism by explicitly detailing the mental processes that are used in environment-behaviour interaction. This provides a theory which is framed in cognition and human agency, and which is reactive to environmental, societal and cultural contexts. As such, it provides a new theoretical framework for future cognitive mapping research, raising new questions and providing testable hypotheses. In addition, the schema explicitly illustrates how geographical and psychological theory and practice can be combined to provide an integrative framework for cognitive mapping research.