ABSTRACT
Historically, much of the experimental research on spatial cognition has involved the use of small-scale or model environments. The primary goal of this work was to assess an individual’s ability to mentally manipulate spatial relations among objects. The recent interest among researchers in behavior occurring in large-scale environments has led to a shift both in the type of variables and in the cognitive abilities investigated. Since large-scale spaces surround the individual and demand participation rather than just passive observation (Ittelson, 1973), the person must cognitively integrate multiple views from multiple vantage points. While still interested in the mental manipulation of spatial information, researchers have expanded this interest to the representation and integration of information derived from the successive viewing demanded by large-scale environments. In terms of variables of interest, the move to large-scale environments opens the door for the investigation of the influence of various physical activities that bring the individual into contact with the different views of the space—an influence rarely of interest to researchers using model spaces.
