Environmental Cognition: Contributions from the Analytic Hierarchy Process Toward Construction of Cognitive Maps

Abstract

Despite its vast multidisciplinary applications, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has received little attention in environmental cognition literature. AHP properties that relate conceptually and methodologically to developments in cognitive mapping and modelling research are highlighted. The method of paired comparisons, which is at the core of AHP procedure, scale, and calculus of consistency, is used with a cognitive mapping application. A taxonomic concept of imageability provides a survey protocol for classification of the elements of the environmental structure. The connective structure of paired relations among the elements as well as their relative dominance as perceived by subjects is gauged (interpreted) by the consistency index in the construction of a cognitive map. This approach captures the qualitative, topological properties of spatial structure while it accounts for observer variation as well as degree of consensus in the image(s) of structure. The chapter concludes with promising future areas of research and development of the AHP as a paradigm for environmental cognition.