Reference points in spatial cognition

Abstract

The present research investigates the hypothesis that cognitive representations of large scale space contain elements that may be termed reference points, and that these points are used to define the position of adjacent places. The nature and function of reference points is explored in five experiments. Experiments 1 and 2 consist of tasks during which subjects judged the distance between known locations. The subjective distance between reference points and nonreference points was found to be asymmetrical, with the latter ordered in relation to the former. Experiments 3 and 4 employ reaction time tasks in which subjects attempted to verify the distance or direction from an anchor location to target locations. The data indicate that the relative referentiality of anchor and target locations influences verification time. The results of Experiments 1-4 suggest that reference points occur in spatial cognition and that these points provide an organizational structure that facilitates the location of adjacent points in space. Experiment 5 consists of a multiple regression analysis designed to clarify the semantic attributes of spatial reference points.