The accuracy of spatial information from temporally and spatially organized mental maps

Abstract

The way a space is learned can result in a mental map that is either temporally or spatially organized (Curiel & Radvansky, 1998). The present study examined the availability of spatial information under map learning conditions where either temporal or spatial organization has been previously observed. The finding was that people were fairly accurate in tasks that explicitly required the use of spatial information. However, there was a particular advantage for having a spatially organized mental map in a direction judgment task, especially for short distances where fine-grained knowledge was required. In contrast, there was no clear advantage for either group in a distance estimation task. These data are interpreted in the context of Huttenlocher's category adjustment model.