scholarly journals Η συμβολή της αφής, της ακοής και της όσφρησης στη διαμόρφωση και ενημέρωση νοητικών χαρτών από άτομα με πρόβλημα όρασης

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Αθανάσιος Κουτσοκλένης
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Mapping ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Visual Impairments ◽  
Cognitive Maps ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Theoretical Part ◽  
Environmental Attributes ◽  
Research Stage

The present doctoral dissertation explores the role of touch, hearing and olfaction in the construction of cognitive maps by individuals with visual impairments. The theoretical part of the dissertation includes a review of the fundamental terms used in the field of orientation and mobility and cognitive mapping. It also focuses on key concepts related to sensation, perception and memory. The theoretical part of the dissertation also reviews the existing literature regarding the role of remaining senses in the acquisition of spatial information by individuals with visual impairments.The research has been organized in three stages. The first research stage examines which haptic, auditory and olfactory cues individuals with visual impairments use most often and determines which of these cues these individuals deemed to be the most important for wayfinding in urban environments. It also investigates the ways in which these individuals use the most significant haptic, auditory and olfactory cues. The second research stage sought to examine the role of touch, hearing and olfaction in the cognitive mapping of an unfamiliar environment by individuals with blindness. The third research stage aimed at investigating the type of environmental attributes that individuals with blindness recall from their cognitive maps for familiar environments. To meet the research aims a mixed methodology was used, including a focus-group interview, questionnaires, closed-ended interviews and two spatial tasks.The findings reveal that individuals with visual impairments use several haptic, auditory and olfactory cues in various ways to orient themselves and navigate within urban environments. The findings also show that individuals with visual impairments use a variety of informational stimuli, picked-up through touch, hearing and olfaction to determine the nature and position of environmental attributes in an unfamiliar environment. Finally, the results indicate that the cognitive maps of blind individuals for familiar environments contain information about several environmental attributes that can be perceived through touch, hearing and/or olfaction during novel navigation.

Differences in Spatial Knowledge of Individuals With Blindness When Using Audiotactile Maps, Using Tactile Maps, and Walking

2018 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 330-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Papadopoulos ◽  
Marialena Barouti ◽  
Eleni Koustriava
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Information ◽  
Visual Impairments ◽  
Cognitive Maps ◽  
Cognitive Map ◽  
Spatial Knowledge ◽  
Spatial Coding ◽  
Direct Experience ◽  
Tactile Maps ◽  
Experimental Trials ◽  
Blind Individuals

To examine how individuals with visual impairments understand space and the way they develop cognitive maps, we studied the differences in cognitive maps resulting from different methods and tools for spatial coding in large geographical spaces. We examined the ability of 21 blind individuals to create cognitive maps of routes in unfamiliar areas using (a) audiotactile maps, (b) tactile maps, and (c) direct experience of movement along the routes. We also compared participants’ cognitive maps created with the use of audiotactile maps, tactile maps, and independent movement along the routes with regard to their precision (i.e., the correctness or incorrectness of spatial information location) and inclusiveness (i.e., the amount of spatial information included correctly in the cognitive map). The results of the experimental trials demonstrated that becoming familiar with an area is easier for blind individuals when they use a tactile aide, such as an audiotactile map, as compared with walking along the route.

Cognitive Maps

2010 ◽  
pp. 58-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Hirtle
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Cognitive Mapping ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Internal Representation ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Cognitive Maps ◽  
Geographic Information ◽  
Human Information Processing ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Spatial Attributes

Cognitive maps are the representations that individuals use to understand, process, and navigate environments. The term cognitive map should not be taken as a literal metaphor as the internal representation will often violate principles of two-dimensional geometry, will rarely be either continuous or complete, and will often include non-spatial attributes, such as sights, sounds, or even aesthetic qualities, of a location. Research on cognitive mapping as made important contributions to both theory and application of geoinformatics by demonstrating how spatial information is acquired, structured, accessed, and schematized by the human information processing system. Theories of cognitive mapping have been expanded by through new frameworks, such as naïve geography, synergetic inter-representation networks, and geocognostics. Together, this body of research has provided a framework for the development of the next generation of user-centered geographic information systems.

scholarly journals Implicit associations with nature and urban environments: Effects of lower-level processed image properties

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Menzel ◽  
Gerhard Reese
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Positive Mood ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Implicit Associations ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Urban Images ◽  
Positive Valence

Nature has numerous beneficial effects on human health. Even watching nature compared to urban images, which are known to differ in several image properties that were processed at early stages, can improve mood, perceived restoration, and cognitive function, suggesting that the visual input alone evokes these effects. Furthermore, nature images – compared to urban ones – are implicitly and explicitly associated with positive valence. To study automatic bottom-up processes and the role of lower-level visual processing involved in the beneficial effects of nature, we investigated implicit associations in a dichotomous set of nature and urban images in three domains, namely valence, mood, and stress restoration. To examine the role of lower-level processing on these associations, we analysed nature and urban images for several properties and created stimuli that lacked the spatial information but retained certain image properties of the original photographs (i.e., phase-scrambled images). While original nature images were associated with good, positive mood, and restoration, urban images were associated with bad and stress. The studies also showed that image properties differ between our nature and urban images, and that they contribute to the implicit associations with valence. However, image properties and lower-level processing seem to play no or only minor roles for associations with mood and stress restoration.

scholarly journals Implicit Associations With Nature and Urban Environments: Effects of Lower-Level Processed Image Properties

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Menzel ◽  
Gerhard Reese
Keyword(s):  
Visual System ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Positive Mood ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Implicit Associations ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Urban Images

Nature experiences usually lead to restorative effects, such as positive affective states and reduced stress. Even watching nature compared to urban images, which are known to differ in several image properties that are processed at early stages, can lead to such effects. One potential pathway explaining how the visual input alone evokes restoration is that image properties processed at early stages in the visual system evoke positive associations. To study these automatic bottom-up processes and the role of lower-level visual processing involved in the restoring effects of nature, we conducted two studies. First, we analyzed nature and urban stimuli for a comprehensive set of image properties. Second, we investigated implicit associations in a dichotomous set of nature and urban images in three domains, namely, valence, mood, and stress restoration. To examine the role of lower-level processing in these associations, we also used stimuli that lacked the spatial information but retained certain image properties of the original photographs (i.e., phase-scrambled images). While original nature images were associated with “good,” “positive mood,” and “restoration,” urban images were associated with “bad” and “stress.” The results also showed that image properties differ between our nature and urban images and that they contribute to the implicit associations with valence, although spatial information and therefore recognition of the environment remained necessary for positive associations. Moreover, lower-level processed image properties seem to play no or only minor roles for associations with mood and stress restoration.

The Effect of Path Length and Display Size on Memory for Spatial Information

2012 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Guérard ◽  
Sébastien Tremblay
Keyword(s):  
Path Length ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Recall Performance ◽  
Minor Role ◽  
Length Effect ◽  
Serial Memory ◽  
Fixed Reference ◽  
A Minor

In serial memory for spatial information, some studies showed that recall performance suffers when the distance between successive locations increases relatively to the size of the display in which they are presented (the path length effect; e.g., Parmentier et al., 2005) but not when distance is increased by enlarging the size of the display (e.g., Smyth & Scholey, 1994). In the present study, we examined the effect of varying the absolute and relative distance between to-be-remembered items on memory for spatial information. We manipulated path length using small (15″) and large (64″) screens within the same design. In two experiments, we showed that distance was disruptive mainly when it is varied relatively to a fixed reference frame, though increasing the size of the display also had a small deleterious effect on recall. The insertion of a retention interval did not influence these effects, suggesting that rehearsal plays a minor role in mediating the effects of distance on serial spatial memory. We discuss the potential role of perceptual organization in light of the pattern of results.

Organisational aspects of spatial information infrastructure in Poland

2013 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elzbieta Bielecka ◽  
Agnieszka Zwirowicz-Rutkowska
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Information ◽  
Information Infrastructure ◽  
Class Diagram ◽  
Use Case ◽  
Legal Regulations ◽  
Organisational Structure ◽  
Technical Aspects ◽  
Polish Law

Abstract One of the more important elements of spatial information infrastructure is the organisational structure defining the obligations and dependencies between stakeholders that are responsible for the infrastructure. Many SDI practitioners and theoreticians emphasise that its influence on the success or failure of activities undertaken is significantly greater than that of technical aspects. Being aware of the role of the organisational structure in the creating, operating and maintenance of spatial information infrastructure (SII), Polish legislators placed appropriate regulations in the Spatial Information Infrastructure Act, being the transposition of the INSPIRE Directive into Polish Law. The principal spatial information infrastructure stakeholders are discussed in the article and also the scope of cooperation between them. The tasks and relationships between stakeholders are illustrated in UML, in both the use case and the class diagram. Mentioned also are the main problems and obstructions resulting from imprecise legal regulations.

scholarly journals Influence of Land Use on Avian Diversity in North African Urban Environments

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 434
Author(s):  
Hani Amir Aouissi ◽  
Alexandru-Ionuţ Petrişor ◽  
Mostefa Ababsa ◽  
Maria Boştenaru-Dan ◽  
Mahmoud Tourki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Diversity Index ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Ecological Group ◽  
Avian Diversity ◽  
North African ◽  
Index Method ◽  
Urban Green Spaces

Land cover and use changes are important to study for their impact on ecosystem services and ultimately on sustainability. In urban environments, a particularly important research question addresses the relationship between urbanization-related changes and biodiversity, subject to controversies in the literature. Birds are an important ecological group, and useful for answering this question. The present study builds upon the hypothesis according to which avian diversity decreases with urbanization. In order to answer it, a sample of 4245 observations from 650 sites in Annaba, Algeria, obtained through the point abundance index method, were investigated by computing Shannon-Wiener’s diversity index and the species richness, mapping them, and analyzing the results statistically. The findings confirm the study hypothesis and are relevant for planning, as they stress the role of urban green spaces as biodiversity hotspots, and plead for the need of connecting them. From a planning perspective, the results emphasize the need for interconnecting the green infrastructure through avian corridors. Moreover, the results fill in an important lack of data on the biodiversity of the region, and are relevant for other similar Mediterranean areas. Future studies could use the findings to compare with data from other countries and continents.

scholarly journals The Role of Spatio-Temporal Information to Govern the COVID-19 Pandemic: A European Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 166
Author(s):  
Hartmut Müller ◽  
Marije Louwsma
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
National Level ◽  
Temporal Information ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Heavy Burden ◽  
Spatio Temporal

The Covid-19 pandemic put a heavy burden on member states in the European Union. To govern the pandemic, having access to reliable geo-information is key for monitoring the spatial distribution of the outbreak over time. This study aims to analyze the role of spatio-temporal information in governing the pandemic in the European Union and its member states. The European Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) system and selected national dashboards from member states were assessed to analyze which spatio-temporal information was used, how the information was visualized and whether this changed over the course of the pandemic. Initially, member states focused on their own jurisdiction by creating national dashboards to monitor the pandemic. Information between member states was not aligned. Producing reliable data and timeliness reporting was problematic, just like selecting indictors to monitor the spatial distribution and intensity of the outbreak. Over the course of the pandemic, with more knowledge about the virus and its characteristics, interventions of member states to govern the outbreak were better aligned at the European level. However, further integration and alignment of public health data, statistical data and spatio-temporal data could provide even better information for governments and actors involved in managing the outbreak, both at national and supra-national level. The Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE) initiative and the NUTS system provide a framework to guide future integration and extension of existing systems.

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