THE IMPLICATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY AND METHODOLOGY FOR COGNITIVE CARTOGRAPHY

Abstract

Contemporary debate and research in cartography has stressed the role of the map reader in the process of cartographic communication, and cartographic experiments have been carried out to examine the cognitive processes involved in map interpretation. Some of the issues raised by such studies arc discussed with particular reference to how methods from recent psychological research can be applied to these cartographic studies. It is also emphasized that cognitive cartographic research needs to develop theories about cognitive processes which can be empirically tested, and it is suggested that one way to generate such theories is to adopt the approach and methodology of studies in Artificial Intelligence.