Remember the North - : Reference Frames and Spatial Cognition at Different Scale

Authors:
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The North-up reference frame on cartographic maps is a cultural convention that originates in the astronomicalgeometrical worldview of ancient Greek cosmology. Although a relatively young tradition, it had substantial influence on human spatial thinking from the Renaissance. Recent geo-visualization applications may display maps with dynamic, head-up orientation to support turn-by-turn navigation. Increased GPS use seems not to support survey knowledge related to spatial memory. In the current study we tested the sense of North in a sample of young adults. We created an ecologically valid experimental setting and carefully selected a special location at ELTE university campus in Budapest. Standing near river Danube and heading an easterly direction our 36 participants first indicated North in a vista space; then they pointed toward salient urban landmarks in the city. In the second part they marked graphically the directions of important cities in Europe and, finally, they once again indicated the direction of the North in a geographic reference frame. Our results demonstrate that the participants had a clear sense of geographical North, which was not biased by the setting, buildings and available landmark cues. Furthermore, test subjects living longer in Budapest had a better sense of North, supporting a learned component in this directional knowledge. Our experiment in the physical world resulted in supporting evidence that North is still maintained in human cognitive maps as the cardinal direction for orientation.

This publication has 26 references indexed in Scilit: