Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Visualization has been sometimes character-
ized as explaining something visually to oneself,
from the viewpoint of the mind's eye. Spatial skills
are necessary in many activities and occupations as
they allow the use of visualization. In such cases,
mental images exist at mental spatial screens as
concrete pictures, besides of the words. Spatial
skills help to perform mental rotation, when ob-
jects must be rotated to be compared and check
whether there is similarity or a difference. They
also support transposition of three-dimensional
objects to a two-dimensional paper.
The question has been around a long time
whether mental images exist as the concrete pic-
tures. Besides of the words and images, there is
a third mode of representation that allows men-
tal communication between words and images.
Kosslyn (1978) analyzed mental spatial screens
that were horizontal, rounded, fading around
edges, with varied overflow and details. Mental
rotation was considered necessary to compare
objects; one must rotate objects to compare if
there is angular difference (Shepard, 1978). Olson,
Bialystok (1983) observed that canonical objects
are easier to rotate. When a child rotates around
an object, the egocentric system is used and no
topological codes to evaluate connectedness and
continuity are in use. In the egocentric stage,
the frame of reference is fixed and mistakes are
easily made, so another viewpoint is needed in
rotations. Transformation of a 3-D object to the
2-D orthographic drawings need the mental rota-
tion to a plane, changing scale, and bringing into
existence an abstract, semi-iconic signs (small
toys help to do it).
Cognitive mapping means mental transforma-
tions that are made in order to arrange information
contained in everyday spatial environmental space.
Environmental space may mean different things for
different people. It can be pragmatic - related to
where we live, perceptual - what we experience,
existential -introducing social and cultural issues,
cognitive - based on thinking, and logical - an
abstract space. Cognitive mapping is not a map
but a metaphor, a process rather than product,
made by making routes, building a network, and
defining and metrical descriptions of relative
positions. We form an environmental cognitive
map using schemata as ways to define a structure:
paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks. The
characteristics of the environment are: barriers,
number and type of landmarks, vertical/horizon-
tal spaces, and their effect on the environment's
representation. Piaget did not use the concept of
the environment; he used the hand-sized items.
However, gaining some motor experience, for
example, by walking around the object, helps to
grasp the concept of the environment. Using the
aerial photos requires the rotation to another plane,
reduction in scale, and abstraction of objects to
semi-iconic signs (Downs & Stea, 1977).
Cognitive mapping is a process composed
of a series of psychological transformations
by which an individual acquires, codes, stores,
recalls, and decodes information about the rela-
tive locations and attributes of phenomena in his
everyday spatial environment (Downs and Stea,
1977). In cognitive mapping transformation of
a 3-D object to the 2-D orthographic drawing
requires the use of the mental rotation on a plane,
changing scale, and bringing into existence an
abstract representation. In a new environment,
a person uses routes (which provides egocentric
information), then landmarks (fixed objects),
and finally builds a map (a framework with
coordinated relationships). Methods of cod-
ing for a map includes, according to Kuipers
(1982), (1) procedures for following routes,
(2) topological network descriptions, and (3)
metrical descriptions (relative positions vec-
tors). Evans, Marrero, Butler (1981) defined
it in another way, as (1) associated networks
based on abstract representations, and (2) an
analog view, where mental representations are
rough isomorphic images.
