ABSTRACT

The ability to mentally represent spatial information is a fundamental cognitive process. To many people, this process feels a bit like visual perception, hence the term ‘spatial visualization’. In this paper, we describe a method for measuring the accuracy of spatial visualization, specifically visualization of a complex path in imaginary space. A critical feature of this method (called Path Visualization) is that it relies on the detection of intersections in a visualized path. Intersection detection is an inherently spatial task that requires a spatial representation. In this paper, we show how the Path Visualization method works, and how it can be customized to address several key research issues in human spatial cognition.

摘要

从心理上表现空间信息的能力是一个基本的认知过程。对于许多人来说，此过程有点像视觉感知，因此称为“空间可视化”。在本文中，我们描述了一种测量空间可视化准确性的方法，特别是虚构空间中复杂路径的可视化。该方法（称为路径可视化）的关键特征在于它依赖于可视化路径中的相交检测。交叉口检测是一种固有的空间任务，需要空间表示。在本文中，我们展示了路径可视化方法的工作原理，以及如何对其进行定制以解决人类空间认知中的几个关键研究问题。