Image and Environment: Cognitive Mapping and Spatial Behavior

Roger M. Downs · David Stea

Jan 2017 · Transaction Publishers

About this ebook

Cognitive mapping is a construct that encompasses those processes that enable people to acquire, code, store, recall, and manipulate information about the nature of their spatial environment. It refers to the attributes and relative locations of people and objects in the environment, and is an essential component in the adaptive process of spatial decision-making--such as finding a safe and quick route to from work, locating potential sites for a new house or business, and deciding where to travel on a vacation trip. Cognitive processes are not constant, but undergo change with age or development and use or learning. Image and Environment, now in paperback, is a pioneer study. It brings a new academic discipline to a wide audience. The volume is divided into six sections, which represent a comprehensive breakdown of cognitive mapping studies: "Theory"; "Cognitive Representations"; "Spatial Preferences"; "The Development of Spatial Cognition"; "Geographical and Spatial Orientation"; and "Cognitive Distance." Contributors include Edward Tolman, James Blaut, Stephen Kaplan, Terence Lee, Donald Appleyard, Peter Orleans, Thomas Saarinen, Kevin Cox, Georgia Zannaras, Peter Gould, Roger Hart, Gary Moore, Donald Griffin, Kevin Lynch, Ulf Lundberg, Ronald Lowrey, and Ronald Briggs. Roger M. Downs is head of the Department of Geography at Pennsylvania State University. He received his Ph.D. in geography from the University of Bristol in 1970 and has also taught geography and environmental engineering at Johns Hopkins University. David Stea is professor of geography and planning at Southwest Texas State University and Enrique A. Aragon Distinguished Professor at Universidad Nacional Aut¾noma de MÚxico. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University in 1964 and has also taught at the U.S. International University, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, UCLA, Clark University, Brown University, and Stanford University. Kenneth E. Boulding (1910-1993) was an internationally known economist. He was the author of several works, including Beasts, Ballads, and Bouldingisms, and the editor of Peace and the War Industry, both available from Transaction.