Synonyms
Definition
Spatial mapping is the ability to use a combination of external and internally-generated information (e.g., vision and proprioception) to construct a mental representation of the surrounding environment. It is shared by a wide range of species, from fish to humans, and thought to have ancient evolutionary origins.
Introduction
One of the most crucial cognitive abilities of any navigating individual is to form a mental mapof its surrounding environment and to figure out how to get from one place to another. Everyday excursions, such as hunting and foraging, can take an individual on a complex path away from home, along which one can easily become disoriented and lost. An external, world-based representation of the environment provides the navigator with the capacity to not only compute one’s own location in space but also plan multiple possible routes to one’s destination. Such an ability is highly...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Barry, C., & Burgess, N. (2014). Neural mechanisms of self-location. Current Biology, 24, R330–R339.
Constantinescu, A. O., O’Reilley, J. X., & Behrens, T. E. J. (2016). Organizing conceptual knowledge in humans with a gridlike code. Science, 352, 1464–1468.
Gallistel, C. R. (1990). The organization of learning. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Hafting, T., Fyhn, M., Molden, S., Moser, M. B., & Moser, E. I. (2005). Microstructure of a spatial map in the entorhinal cortex. Nature, 436, 801–806.
Jacobs, J., & Lee, S. A. (2016). Spatial cognition: Grid cells support imagined navigation. Current Biology, 26, R277–R279.
MacDonald, C. J., Lepage, K. Q., Eden, U. T., & Eichenbaum, H. (2011). Hippocampal “time cells” bridge the gap in memory for discontiguous events. Neuron, 71, 737–749.
O’Keefe, J., & Dostrovsky, J. (1971). The hippocampus as a spatial map. Preliminary evidence from unit activity in the freely-moving rat. Brain Research, 34, 171–175.
Rodríguez, F., López, J. C., Vargas, J. P., Broglio, C., Gómez, Y., & Salas, C. (2002). Spatial memory and hippocampal pallium through vertebrate evolution: Insights from reptiles and teleost fish. Brain Research Bulletin, 57, 499–503.
Spelke, E., & Lee, S. A. (2012). Core system of geometry in animal minds. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 367, 2784–2793.
Tolman, E. C. (1948). Cognitive maps in rats and man. Psychological Review, 55, 189–208.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Lee, S.A. (2016). Spatial Mapping. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3127-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3127-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences