The Construction of Cognitive Maps

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

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2. The Construction of Cognitive Maps: An Introduction

   1. The Construction of Cognitive Maps: An Introduction

      • Juval Portugali

      Pages 1-7

3. Theoretical Frameworks

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 9-9

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   2. Inter-Representation Networks and Cognitive Maps

      • Juval Portugali

      Pages 11-43

   3. Synergetics, Inter-Representation Networks and Cognitive Maps

      • Hermann Haken, Juval Portugali

      Pages 45-67

   4. Neural Network Models of Cognitive Maps

      • Sucharita Gopal

      Pages 69-85

   5. Connectionist Models in Spatial Cognition

      • Thea Ghiselli-Crippa, Stephen C. Hirtle, Paul Munro

      Pages 87-104

   6. The Ecological Approach to Navigation: A Gibsonian Perspective

      • Harry Heft

      Pages 105-132

   7. Verbal Directions for Way-Finding: Space, Cognition, and Language

      • Helen Couclelis

      Pages 133-153

4. Transformations

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 155-155

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   2. From Visual Information to Cognitive Maps

      • M. Jeanne Sholl

      Pages 157-186

   3. Constructing Cognitive Maps With Orientation Biases

      • Robert Lloyd, Rex Cammack

      Pages 187-213

   4. Cognitive Mapping and Wayfinding by Adults Without Vision

      • Reginald G. Golledge, Roberta L. Klatzky, Jack M. Loomis

      Pages 215-246

   5. The Construction of Cognitive Maps by Children with Visual Impairments

      • Simon Ungar, Mark Blades, Christopher Spencer

      Pages 247-273

   6. Language as a Means of Constructing and Conveying Cognitive Maps

      • Nancy Franklin

      Pages 275-295

   7. Modes of Linearization in the Description of Spatial Configurations

      • Marie-Paule Daniel, Luc Carité, Michel Denis

      Pages 297-318

5. Specific Themes

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 319-319

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   2. Modeling Directional Knowledge and Reasoning in Environmental Space: Testing Qualitative Metrics

      • Daniel R. Montello, Andrew U. Frank

      Pages 321-344

   3. Mapping as a Cultural Universal

      • David Stea, James M. Blaut, Jennifer Stephens

      Pages 345-360

6. Back Matter

   Pages 361-365

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and processes which are exclusive to humans in their encoding, storing, decoding and retrieving spatial knowledge for various tasks. The authors present and discuss connectionist models of cognitive maps which are based on local representation, versus models which are based on distributed representation, as well as connectionist models concerning language and spatial relations. As is well known, Gibson's (1979) ecological approach suggests a view on cognition which is diametrically different from the classical main stream view: perception (and thus cognition) is direct, immediate and needs no internal information processing, and is thus essentially an external process of interaction between an organism and its external environment. The chapter by Harry Heft introduces J. J. Gibson's ecological approach and its implication to the construction of cognitive maps in general and to the issue of wayfinding in particular. According to Heft, main stream cognitive sciences are essentially Cartesian in nature and have not as yet internalized the implications of Darwin's theory of evolution. Gibson, in his ecological approach, has tried to do exactly this. The author introduces the basic terminology of the ecological approach and relates its various notions, in particular optic flow, nested hierarchy and affordances, to navigation and the way routes and places in the environment are learned.

• Connectionism
• Navigation
• attention
• cognition
• knowledge
• modeling
• neural network

• Department of Geography, Tel Aviv University, Israel

  Juval Portugali

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