mental maps
Internal spatial representations
Mental maps are the internal representations people carry of places and spatial relationships—how you picture your neighborhood, your route to work, or the layout of a country.
These cognitive maps are often distorted by familiarity and significance: nearby places loom larger, unfamiliar regions compress.
Her mental map of the city centered on the few blocks she actually walked.
The concept extends to abstract domains: He had a mental map of the company's power structure.
- spatial awarenessSense of physical positioning
- sense of directionSpatial navigation instinct
- spatial memoryRecollection of layouts and positions
- place cellsNeurons encoding spatial position
- wayfindingNavigating through physical spaces
getting lost · bird's eye view · survey · city grid · hierarchical structures · mind mapping · spatial orientation · map reading · neural pathways · landmarks · route planning · geography · distance · GPS systems · routes · internal · representation · heuristics
- spatial perceptiondepth perception, spatial awareness, spatial orientation, binocular vision, stereopsis
- environmental psychologywayfinding, spatial perception, sense of place, spatial awareness, personal space
- Pacific voyagingwaka, double hull, voyaging, outrigger canoe, wayfinding
- cognitionthinking, reasoning, thought, cognition, remembering
- navigationcompass, compass rose, signs, charts, navbar
- spatial conceptsspace, depth, location, height, place
mental mapsphysical maps
Charts showing terrain features
printed maps · digital maps · atlases · street maps · GPS navigation