Investigating the relationship between spatial and social cognitive maps in humans

Abstract

The ability to mentally represent where things are around us is generally referred to as a cognitive map. Cognitive maps are critical for spatial orientation and navigation given that, when formed, they allow individuals to get anywhere from any place within the environment. However, recent speculations and research on cognitive maps suggest that this important cognitive process is not exclusive to physical spaces and may instead include social spaces as well. Here, we explored various social elements that may be associated with spatial orientation abilities to better understand which aspects of social life may help with organizing a social cognitive map (i.e. a mental representation of social information organized in an orderly and hierarchical manner). To this aim, we assessed social capital, social competence, and quality of social support in a large group of healthy individuals, and analyzed their relationship with performance on spatial orientation tasks evaluating the ability to form and make use of spatial cognitive maps. The findings revealed that individuals who had more social competence, social capital, and social support, perceived themselves to be better at spatially navigating within the environment, as documented in a self-reported measure of spatial navigation in daily life. However, their performance on spatial orientation tasks in a virtual environment revealed that they were instead significantly poor at spatially navigating. We discuss the potential implications of these findings in the context of some important factors that contribute to our social lives, and suggest social elements that future studies could account for to better understand the relationship between spatial and social cognitive maps.