mapping for learning: mapping

Summer 2001 Mara Alagic: Mapping for Learning

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Mapping for Learning: Mapping

“ A given set of data only acquires significance when we map it onto a pattern of some kind.”

(March and Steadman, p.29)


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Brain Waves In 1930s, Berger, a German psychiatrist

discovered electrical brain waves Any stimulus produces electrical

responses in the brain called evoked potentials (recorded; averaged to remove noise)

When the stimulus is cognitive or intellectual task, the recording is a cognitive evoked potential


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Analyzing Brain Activity

Brain mapping using X-rays makes it possible to see brain structure (CT scan)

Brain mapping using radioactive chemicals (PET scan)made it possible to study brain function over time (in intervals of thousandths of a second)

Millions of pieces of information can be stored on computers to be analyzed


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Cognitive Process of Mapping (1)

“ A given set of data only acquires significance when we map it onto a pattern of some kind.” (March and Steadman, p.29)

Cognitive (process of) mapping = those abilities which enable us to collect, organize, store and recall, and operate on information about our environment


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Cognitive Process of Mapping (2)

Mental map is a product of the cognitive process of mapping - cross sections of the world at one instant in time

Key concepts employed in studying cognitive mapping: representation and environment


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Why is cognitive mapping important? (1) Draw and describe in one sentence

THIS picture.


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Why is cognitive mapping important? (2)

Are cognitive maps accurate? Is there a 1-1 correspondence between

ones representations and the actual spatial environment?

Are mental maps similar? Given two individuals, how similar might their maps be of the same environment?

Is learning going to induce dissimilarities?


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How Useful Are Mental Maps in Everyday Life?

Examples? ... An understanding of how individuals

cognitively map an environment can be used to provide a “common” map which can convey the maximum information to the greatest number of individuals


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Research on the Cognitive Process of Mapping

Think about this moment in which I am trying to convey some (new?) concepts to you

What guides this mapping process? …


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Mapping: Problem Solving Sanford’s (1985)

1 A mapping between a problem-statement and relevant schemata in LTM

2 Problem solving begins with the manipulation of this mapping in WM

3 If an information-state developed in WM matches a structure in LTM, a new structure is stored in LTM (WM LTM)


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Problem Solving & Abduction Sanford’s (1985) 1 A problem schemata in LTM2 Manipulation of this mapping in WM 3 WM LTM: a new structure stored in

LTM 4 Abduction: The new knowledge-state

which a solved problem represents can often be achieved by introducing information from sources external to the problem-statement


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Mathematical Mapping

f: XY For every xX there exists exactly one yY such that y=f(x)

Is geographical mapping a species of mathematical mapping?

Cartography is seen as a type of mathematical modeling involving abstraction

Domain?


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Cognitive Mapping: Formal Definition

Downs and Stea (1973) formally define cognitive mapping as: … a process composed of a series of

psychological transformations by which an individual acquires, codes, stores, recalls, and decodes information about the relative locations and attributes of phenomena in their everyday spatial environment


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About Cognitive Maps (Neisse, U.,1976)

An individual’s cognitive map is an active information seeking structure of which spatial imagery is but one aspect

Cognitive maps are created as the result of active and passive modes of information processing


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Cognitive Mapping: Information Processing Generally, active information processing

gives the greatest meaning to the information processed and produces more information for the perceiver

The information produced by locomotion is fundamental to an individual’s spatial orientation


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Cognitive maps: Content and Form Cognitive maps are also made up of

memories of objects and kinesthetic, visual and auditory cues (Griffin, D. R. 1973)

Aside from the way cognitive maps are formed, the types of information stored in a cognitive map are also of interest


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What are cognitive maps made up of?

Kuipers (1983) suggests that a cognitive map consists of five different types of information, each with its own representation:

• topological• metric• route descriptions• fixed features and • sensory images


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Cognition: Independent Variables

An individual’s cognition of the environment is not only a function of the behavior by which information is obtained but also depends on the characteristics of the environment

The amount of information gained by each sensory modality is also environmentally dependent


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Personal Nature of Cognitive Maps How the observer interprets and

organizes a common exterior form is unique (Lynch)

This interpretation governs how the observer directs his attention and this in turn affects what is seen/learned. So at both a societal level and a cultural level cognitive maps are highly individualistic


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References (1) Downs, R. M. & Stea, D. (1973). Cognitive

Maps and Spatial Behavior. Process and Products. In Image and Environment, (Downs, R. M. & Stea, D. Eds.), Aldine Publishing Co., Chicago, pp 8-26

Griffin, D. R. (1973) Topographical orientation. In Image and Environment, (Downs, R. M. & Stea, D. Eds.), Aldine Publishing Co., Chicago. pp 296-299.

Neisse, U. (1976).Cognition and reality, WH Freemn, San Francisco.


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References (2)

Kuipers, B. (1983) The cognitive map: Could it be any other way. In Spatial Orientation: Theory, research and application, (Pick, H. L. & Acredolo, L. P. Eds.) Plenium Press, New York. pp 345-360.

Billinghurst, M. & Weghorst, S. The use of sketch maps to measure cognitive maps of virtual environment (www.hitl.washington.edu/publications/p-94-1/paper.html)

mapping for learning: mapping

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