Methods for Measuring Spatial Cognition

Measures of spatial cognition include a diverse array of methodologies and reflect a major dimension in the study of individual differences. Several spatial abilities assessment methods are reviewed that could be incorporated into the development of geographic informations systems. A new experimental procedure, using pointing behaviors, digital video technology and fractal geometry, to estimate the dimensionality of imagined environments is described. It is suggested that the fractal dimension (D) represents a useful measure for the study of spatial cognition.

[1]  R. Shepard Representation of structure in similarity data: Problems and prospects , 1974 .

[2]  Yoram Baram,et al.  Associative memory in fractal neural networks , 1989, IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern..

[3]  Kenneth R. Piech,et al.  Fingerprints and fractal terrain , 1990 .

[4]  J. Loehlin,et al.  Human behavior genetics. , 1988, Annual review of psychology.

[5]  Clint A. Bowers,et al.  Sex differences in the lateralization of spatial abilities: A spatial component analysis of extreme group scores , 1988, Brain and Cognition.

[6]  Mark Blades,et al.  The reliability of data collected from sketch maps , 1990 .

[7]  E. Boring A History of Experimental Psychology. , 1930 .

[8]  J. Carroll,et al.  The dimensions of pain: a multidimensional scaling comparison of cancer patients and healthy volunteers , 1989, Pain.

[9]  James L. McClelland Explorations In Parallel Distributed Processing , 1988 .

[10]  P. Iannaccone Fractal geometry in mosaic organs: a new interpretation of mosaic pattern , 1990, FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

[11]  G. Edelman Topobiology: An Introduction To Molecular Embryology , 1988 .

[12]  L S Liebovitch,et al.  Fractal analysis of a voltage-dependent potassium channel from cultured mouse hippocampal neurons. , 1987, Biophysical journal.

[13]  F. David Peat,et al.  Turbulent Mirror: An Illustrated Guide to Chaos Theory and the Science of Wholeness , 1989 .

[14]  Malvin C. Teich Fractal character of the auditory neural spike train , 1989 .

[15]  P. Fitts,et al.  INFORMATION CAPACITY OF DISCRETE MOTOR RESPONSES. , 1964, Journal of experimental psychology.

[16]  M. Blades,et al.  The Child in the Physical Environment: The Development of Spatial Knowledge and Cognition , 1989 .

[17]  I. Howard,et al.  Human Spatial Orientation , 1966 .

[18]  W. K. Honig,et al.  Cognitive Processes in Animal Behavior , 1979 .

[19]  N. Goad Psychological Differences: Causes Consequences and Uses in Education and Guidance , 1982 .

[20]  E. Rosch,et al.  Cognition and Categorization , 1980 .

[21]  Paul M. Laporte,et al.  Mathematical Analysis of Binocular Vision , 1950 .

[22]  Manabu Takahashi,et al.  A fractal model of chromosomes and chromosomal DNA replication. , 1989, Journal of theoretical biology.

[23]  Madgie M. Hunt The Invention of Memory: a New View of the Brain , 1989 .

[24]  M. Birnbaum,et al.  Two operations for "ratios" and "differences" of distances on the mental map. , 1989, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[25]  R. Shepard Metric structures in ordinal data , 1966 .

[26]  G. Hewes Primate Communication and the Gestural Origin of Language , 1992, Current Anthropology.

[27]  D. Turcotte Fractals in geology and geophysics , 2009, Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science.

[28]  LETTER TO THE EDITOR: The change of fractal dimensionality in the recovery and recrystallisation process , 1990 .

[29]  Michael F. Barnsley,et al.  Fractals everywhere , 1988 .

[30]  N. Martin,et al.  Is there only one set of genes for different abilities? A reanalysis of the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT) data , 1984, Behavior genetics.

[31]  F. Nottebohm,et al.  Primate Communication and the Gestural Origin of Language [and Comments and Reply] , 1973, Current Anthropology.

[32]  B. Tversky,et al.  Searching imagined environments. , 1990 .

[33]  W. Freeman,et al.  How brains make chaos in order to make sense of the world , 1987, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[34]  H. F. J. M. Buffart,et al.  Formal theories of visual perception , 1978 .

[35]  D. Chaffin,et al.  An investigation of fitts' law using a wide range of movement amplitudes. , 1976, Journal of motor behavior.

[36]  Tom Jones,et al.  Psychology of Computer Use: XVI. Effect of Computer-Pointing Devices on Children's Processing Rate , 1989, Perceptual and motor skills.

[37]  S. Cook PSYCHOLOGY: A STUDY OF A SCIENCE. VOLUME 3 , 1961 .

[38]  G. Lakoff,et al.  Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal about the Mind , 1988 .

[39]  M. Fisher Fractal and nonfractal shapes in two-dimensional vesicles , 1989 .

[40]  Eleanor Rosch,et al.  Principles of Categorization , 1978 .

[41]  Sholl Mj Cognitive maps as orienting schemata. , 1987 .

[42]  M. Blades,et al.  The development of 3- to 6-year-olds' map using ability: the relative importance of landmarks and map alignment. , 1990, The Journal of genetic psychology.

[43]  L. E. Gilbert Are topographic data sets fractal? , 1989 .

[44]  F. Moore Cognitive development and the acquisition of language , 1973 .

[45]  M. Blades,et al.  The use of maps by 4–6‐year‐old children in a large‐scale maze , 1987 .

[46]  Mark Blades,et al.  Which Way to Go? Children's Ability to Give Directions in the Environment and from Maps. , 1989 .

[47]  B G Coury,et al.  Multidimensional scaling as a method for assessing internal conceptual models of inspection tasks. , 1987, Ergonomics.

[48]  L. K. Miller,et al.  Sex differences in spatial abilities: strategic and experiential correlates. , 1986, Acta psychologica.

[49]  Mark Blades,et al.  The Development of the Abilities Required to Understand Spatial Representations , 1991 .

[50]  A. Kaufman Intelligent testing with the WISC-R , 1979 .

[51]  D. Ott,et al.  A head-mounted device for measurement of pointing to visual targets without seeing the pointing arm , 1987, Vision Research.

[52]  H Strickland,et al.  Fractal Modeling of Biological Structures , 1987, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[53]  J. Kruskal Nonmetric multidimensional scaling: A numerical method , 1964 .

[54]  Robert Plomin,et al.  Development, genetics, and psychology , 1986 .

[55]  C. Thinus-Blanc,et al.  Cognitive Processes and Spatial Orientation in Animal and Man , 1987 .

[56]  Bruce J. West,et al.  Chaos and fractals in human physiology. , 1990, Scientific American.

[57]  H. Eysenck PRIMARY MENTAL ABILITIES , 1939 .

[58]  P. Vernon Intelligence, heredity and environment , 1979 .

[59]  D. Harris Children's Drawings As Measures of Intellectual Maturity; A Revision and Extension of the Goodenough Draw-A-Man Test. , 1963 .

[60]  J. Guilford,et al.  The nature of human intelligence. , 1968 .

[61]  M. Batty,et al.  Urban Growth and Form: Scaling, Fractal Geometry, and Diffusion-Limited Aggregation , 1989 .

[62]  Clark C. Presson,et al.  Orientation specificity in spatial memory: what makes a path different from a map of the path? , 1989, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[63]  L. Thurstone,et al.  Factorial Studies Of Intelligence , 1941 .

[64]  I. Rosenfield The invention of memory : a new view of the brain , 1988 .

[65]  C. D. Gelatt,et al.  Optimization by Simulated Annealing , 1983, Science.

[66]  J. Kruskal Multidimensional scaling by optimizing goodness of fit to a nonmetric hypothesis , 1964 .

[67]  B. Mandelbrot How Long Is the Coast of Britain? Statistical Self-Similarity and Fractional Dimension , 1967, Science.

[68]  P. Fitts The information capacity of the human motor system in controlling the amplitude of movement. , 1954, Journal of experimental psychology.

[69]  Otmar Bock,et al.  Visual localization after strabismus surgery is compatible with the “outflow” theory , 1986, Vision Research.

[70]  Benoit B. Mandelbrot,et al.  Fractal Geometry of Nature , 1984 .

[71]  Forrest W. Young Multidimensional Scaling: History, Theory, and Applications , 1987 .

[72]  Paul E. Green,et al.  Multidimensional Scaling: Concepts and Applications , 1989 .

[73]  Bernard J. T. Jones,et al.  Why the Universe is not a fractal , 1990 .

[74]  Y. Fukuda,et al.  Fractal analysis of ganglion cell dendritic branching patterns of the rat and cat retinae. , 1989, Neuroscience research. Supplement : the official journal of the Japan Neuroscience Society.

[75]  Harry Timmermans,et al.  Applications of behavioural research on spatial problems I: cognition , 1990 .

[76]  F. G. Worden,et al.  The neurosciences : fourth study program , 1979 .

[77]  L J Eaves,et al.  The genetical analysis of covariance structure , 1977, Heredity.

[78]  Daniel Hernández,et al.  Relative representation of spatial knowledge: the 2-D case , 1990, Forschungsberichte, TU Munich.

[79]  M. Yaffe,et al.  Characterisation of mammographic parenchymal pattern by fractal dimension. , 1990, Physics in medicine and biology.

[80]  R. Shepard,et al.  Mental Rotation of Three-Dimensional Objects , 1971, Science.

[81]  B. Mandelbrot,et al.  Fractals: Form, Chance and Dimension , 1978 .

[82]  D. Turcotte,et al.  Fractal image analysis - Application to the topography of Oregon and synthetic images. , 1990 .

[83]  Francis Galton,et al.  English men of science : their nature and nurture , 1874 .

[84]  Godfrey H. Thomson,et al.  The Factorial Analysis of Human Ability. , 1940 .

[85]  Mark Blades,et al.  Young children's strategies when using maps with landmarks , 1987 .

[86]  James Gleick Chaos: Making a New Science , 1987 .

[87]  J. Jaynes The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind , 1976 .

[88]  Fractured but not fractal: Fragmentation of the gulf of suez basement , 1989 .

[89]  C. Carl Pegels,et al.  Determining Strategic Groups Using Multidimensional Scaling , 1989 .

[90]  C. Spearman General intelligence Objectively Determined and Measured , 1904 .

[91]  R. Mansfield,et al.  Analysis of visual behavior , 1982 .

[92]  R. Crookes,et al.  On obtaining the fractal dimension of a 3D cluster from its projection on a plane-application to smoke agglomerates , 1990 .

[93]  E. Rosch ON THE INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF PERCEPTUAL AND SEMANTIC CATEGORIES1 , 1973 .

[94]  M. Blades,et al.  HOW DO PEOPLE USE MAPS TO NAVIGATE THROUGH THE WORLD , 1987 .

[95]  P. Romano,et al.  Past-pointing in paralytic strabismus. , 1971, American journal of ophthalmology.

[96]  D. Wechsler WAIS-R manual : Wechsler adult intelligence scale-revised , 1981 .

[97]  Manual Pointing to Auditory Targets: Performances of Right Versus Left Handed Subjects , 1986, Cortex.

[98]  J. Leeuw,et al.  Upper bounds for Kruskal's stress , 1984 .

[99]  J. Alcock Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach , 1975 .

[100]  Paul F. M. J. Verschure,et al.  A note on chaotic behavior in simple neural networks , 1990, Neural Networks.

[101]  J. Raven,et al.  Manual for Raven's progressive matrices and vocabulary scales , 1962 .

[102]  G. Holmes DISTURBANCES OF VISION BY CEREBRAL LESIONS , 1918, The British journal of ophthalmology.

[103]  P. Roth,et al.  Size analysis and fractal dimension of diesel particles based on REM measurements with an automatic imaging system , 1989 .

[104]  D. Field,et al.  Human discrimination of fractal images. , 1990, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics and image science.

[105]  P. Vernon The Structure of Human Abilities. , 1950 .

[106]  R. F. Voss Random fractals: self-affinity in noise, music, mountains, and clouds , 1989 .

[107]  S. Coren,et al.  An orientation illusion analog to the rod and frame: Relational effects in the magnitude of the distortion , 1986, Perception & psychophysics.

[108]  Ernst Mach,et al.  The analysis of sensations and the relation of the physical to the psychical , 1914, The Mathematical Gazette.

[109]  Polzella Dj,et al.  Multidimensional scaling analysis of simulated air combat maneuvering performance data. , 1989 .

[110]  Mark L. Johnson The body in the mind: the bodily basis of meaning , 1987 .

[111]  D. C. Kemp,et al.  Functional equivalence of autistic leading and communicative pointing: Analysis and treatment , 1989, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[112]  B. Wolman,et al.  Handbook of Intelligence: Theories, Measurements, and Applications , 1985 .

[113]  R. Menzel,et al.  Do insects have cognitive maps? , 1990, Annual review of neuroscience.

[114]  R H Simon,et al.  An application of fractal dimension to the detection of transients in the electroencephalogram. , 1990, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[115]  Xu Nan,et al.  The fractal dimension of EEG as a physical measure of conscious human brain activities. , 1988 .

[116]  David M. Mark,et al.  Cognitive and Linguistic Aspects of Geographic Space: New Perspectives on Geographic Information Research , 1991 .

[117]  John W. Tukey,et al.  Efficient Utilization of Non-Numerical Information in Quantitative Analysis General Theory and the Case of Simple Order , 1963 .

[118]  M. Potegal Spatial abilities : development and physiological foundations , 1982 .

[119]  Temporal properties of some biological systems and their fractal attractors , 1989 .

[120]  The fractal dimension in the large-scale distribution of galaxies with different luminosities , 1989 .

[121]  P. Pfeifer,et al.  Microbial growth patterns described by fractal geometry , 1990, Journal of bacteriology.

[122]  A. Binet,et al.  Méthodes nouvelles pour le diagnostic du niveau intellectuel des anormaux , 1904 .

[123]  Richard Lynn,et al.  The intelligence of the Mongoloids: A psychometric, evolutionary and neurological theory , 1987 .

[124]  Martin A Mainster,et al.  The fractal properties of retinal vessels: Embryological and clinical implications , 1990, Eye.

[125]  G. Riddoch DISSOCIATION OF VISUAL PERCEPTIONS DUE TO OCCIPITAL INJURIES, WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO APPRECIATION OF MOVEMENT , 1917 .

[126]  J. Stiles-Davis,et al.  Spatial cognition : brain bases and development , 1988 .

[127]  Sigmund Koch Sensory, perceptual, and physiological formulations , 1959 .

[128]  S. Gould Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History , 1989 .

[129]  G. Edelman Group selection and phasic reentrant signaling a theory of higher brain function , 1982 .

[130]  H. A. Witkin,et al.  Studies in space orientation. II. Perception of the upright with displaced visual fields and with body tilted. , 1992, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[131]  Ivars Peterson,et al.  The Mathematical Tourist , 1988 .

[132]  John Alcock Animal behavior: An evolutionary approach, 4th ed. , 1989 .

[133]  J. Cutting,et al.  Fractal curves and complexity , 1987, Perception & psychophysics.

[134]  S. Coren,et al.  Individual differences in visual-geometric illusions: Predictions from measures of spatial cognitive abilities , 1987, Perception & psychophysics.

[135]  U. Neisser Cognitive Psychology. (Book Reviews: Cognition and Reality. Principles and Implications of Cognitive Psychology) , 1976 .

[136]  Robert F. Brammer Unified Image Computing Based On Fractals And Chaos Model Techniques , 1989 .

[137]  W. Stock,et al.  The Concept of Happiness: A Multidimensional Scaling Investigation , 1988, International journal of aging & human development.

[138]  Mark Blades,et al.  The implications of psychological theory and methodology for cognitive cartography , 1986 .

[139]  H. Poincaré La valeur de la science , 1905 .