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Spatial Cognition

Spatial cognition concerns the acquisition, management, and application of knowledge about phenomena in the physical world. Humans derive this knowledge from internalized processes within the cognitive system, which is believed to reside within the mind. As such, spatial cognition is intertwined with processes of thinking, reasoning, memory, abstraction, problem solving, belief formation, perception, sensation, language, and representation related to the spatial properties of objects and events situated in space. The main distinction that can be drawn between cognition and spatial cognition is the focus on the spatial properties of objects and events in spatial cognition.

Geographers interested in spatial cognition mainly focus on the domain of human beings. In other disciplines, spatial cognition also explores cognitive aspects in the context of nonhuman animals. In fact, Tolman's article (1948) on the maze behavior of rats is commonly referred to as the foundation stone of research in spatial cognition. Traditionally, spatial cognition as a field of investigation has been pursued interdisciplinarily by researchers from diverse academic disciplines such as psychology, geography, architecture and planning, anthropology, information science, linguistics, computer science, artificial intelligence, and neuroscience. Theory has been primarily derived within psychology. For instance, one prime example for the psychological tradition in spatial cognition is the work of Jean Piaget and Barbel Inhelder on the acquisition of spatial knowledge by children, published in 1967. Another example is A. W. Siegel and S. H. White's 1975 article on the sequential acquisition of spatial knowledge in adults in terms of landmarks, routes, and survey knowledge. The particular research topics in spatial cognition are just as diverse and include, among others, spatial representations and cognitive maps; orientation, navigation, and wayfinding; learning of familiar and unfamiliar environments; and gender and age differences in spatial abilities.

Cognitive Maps and Cognitive Mapping

At the core of research in spatial cognition lies the urge to understand the internal spatial representations that emerge in animals and humans through interaction with the physical world. That is not to say that spatial representations are merely created through stimulation of the body's senses. Instead, they can also entail derivatives of the imagination that are evoked through activities such as reading novels, listening to songs, and participating in discussions. As noted before, we observe that geographers focus on humans as the subject of their research (as opposed to animals and intelligent machines) in their drive to understand human decision making in space.

Spatial representations stored in the long-term memory are referred to as cognitive maps. First coined as “mental maps” by Peter Gould in 1966, various metaphors have been proposed to describe what a cognitive map is. A noncomprehensive list would consist of Gould's preference surface metaphor, the rubber sheeting metaphor used by Reginald Golledge, the cartographic map or atlas metaphor, and the belief system metaphor.

The expression cognitive map often evokes the idea of a cartographic map in people who are not familiar with the meaning of the expression. It is generally accepted, however, that a cognitive map is quite distinct from a cartographic map. Rather than adhering to a single metaphor, it is more likely that a cognitive map incorporates elements of many or all of the aforementioned metaphors. At any given time, a cognitive map entails information about the physical and imagined environments that the individual has experienced. Since the information is dependent on experience and knowledge, both of which are changing over time, a cognitive map can be seen as a dynamic collection of heterogeneous spatial and nonspatial information about the environment that the individual has acquired through interactions with it.

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