Induced Pictorial Representations

Abstract

Abstract : Language is often used to describe environments or to give directions. This project has investigated how spatial language describing large and small scale environments is comprehended and produced. The research on large scale environments, such as a town, has shown that in descriptions, people adopt either a route or a survey perspective or a mixture of both. In comprehension of such descriptions, people form spatial mental models that are more abstract than either perspective. The research on small scale environments has investigated people's mental models of the objects surrounding them. People are faster to access objects at some directions from their bodies than others. Accessibility depends on enduring characteristics of the perceptual world and the relation of the body to it. Several variations and extensions of each project are described. The research has implications for spatial cognition as well as language comprehension and production.