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European Conference on Spatial Information Theory

COSIT 1993: Spatial Information Theory A Theoretical Basis for GIS pp 14–24Cite as

Cognitive maps, cognitive collages, and spatial mental models

  • Spatial Cognition
  • Conference paper
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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 716))

Abstract

Although cognitive map is a popular metaphor for people's mental representations of environments, as it is typically conceived, it is often too restrictive. Two other metaphors for mental representations are proposed and supported. Cognitive collages are consistent with research demonstrating systematic errors in memory and judgment of environmental knowledge. Yet, for some simple or well-known environments, people seem to have coherent representations of the coarse spatial relations among elements. These spatial mental models allow inference and perspectivetaking but may not allow accurate metric judgments.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Stanford University, 94305-2130, Stanford, CA, USA

    Barbara Tversky

Authors
  1. Barbara Tversky
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Editor information

Andrew U. Frank Irene Campari

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© 1993 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Tversky, B. (1993). Cognitive maps, cognitive collages, and spatial mental models. In: Frank, A.U., Campari, I. (eds) Spatial Information Theory A Theoretical Basis for GIS. COSIT 1993. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 716. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-57207-4_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-57207-4_2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-57207-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-47966-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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