Mind and MazeAnn Sloan Devlin, 2001Preetha LakshmiChris MuellerCSCI 8715Professor Shashi ShekharThemes in Spatial Cognitionchunking: people separate spatial information into aggregate chunks to help with processinglandmarks: landmarks and relationships among them form the basis for how we think about spaceDevelopment of Spatial CognitionSpatial understanding develops over time; children are usually thought to be more egocentric in their understandingRecent research shows that young children perform spatial tasks better with objects or people they recognize. e.g. “Mother as Landmark” experimentProposed model for spatial understanding:landmarks are learned firstroutes: relationships between landmarksroutes are built into networksNeurophysiology of Spatial Cognition(O'Keefe 1978)(McNaughton, et al 2006)neuron firings indicate grid patternsNeuron structure supports cognition of relative directional motion based on strength of synaptic activity in “head direction cells”Hippocampus neuronal structures also exist that track relative translational distance measurements; stored in repeating orthogonal grids of “place cells” (torus topology) Grids of place cells are uniquely patterned to match unique environments; upon entering a new environment, a new grid is created, but existing patterns are used for previously visited environments.Movement and self-motionMovement through an environment is critical for spatial understanding, especially compared to film or slides of a spaceSelf-motion promotes better spatial understanding than other forms of movementVirtual 3d tours of spaces have proven effective for developing a spatialNatural Language and Spatial CognitionNatural language plays an important role in communicating spatial informationHemispherical brain division:−left brain processes complex spatial information and visual interpretation−right brain processes simple spatial tasks e.g. line orientation Language is processed in left brain, where it might be closely related to complex spatial cognitive tasksMapsLegibility is crucialSimplification, classification, symbolizationShould not contain too much clutterImportant landmarks should be made clearly visibleUniformity among colors and stylesEuclidean information is difficult for many to understandGestalt and ProximityPeople tend to understand things as a whole, rather than as a sum of partsWhen objects are close to one another, people tend to see them as being part of the same object (chunking)Urban planningLynch (1960) defines five structural elements:−paths, edges, districts, nodes and landmarksDistinct from OGIS datatypes: −point, curve, region, and geometry collectionCould databases use Lynch's vocabulary instead of OGIS
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