Abstract
An especially exciting area of investigation in the field of environment and behavior that reflects the active role people play in evolving schemata of the physical environment has come to be called cognitive mapping. Cognitive maps, alternatively referred to as mental maps or environmental images, refer to people’s cognitive representations of the spatial environment. Cognitive mapping has referred to the process of acquisition, amalgamation, and storage of these cognitive representations (Downs & Stea, 1973). As mentioned earlier, the seminal work in this area was conducted by Lynch (I960), who collected cognitive maps of Boston, Jersey City, and Los Angeles. Some later studies followed Lynch’s lead and gathered cognitive maps of a number of cities throughout the world — Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague (de Jonge, 1962), Chicago (Saarinen, 1969), Ciudad Guayana (Appleyard, 1969, 1970), Milan and Rome (Francescato & Mebane, 1973). Though cognitive maps can be generated through a range of verbal or graphic mediums, the predominant technique has been through map drawing as established by Lynch (Stea & Downs, 1970).
The research discussed in this chapter was conducted in collaboration with Mirilia Bonnes Dobrowolny.
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© 1978 Plenum Press, New York
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Holahan, C.J. (1978). Errors in Cognitive Mapping: A Behavioral Interpretation. In: Environment and Behavior. The Plenum Social Ecology Series. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2430-0_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2430-0_9
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