Spatial Learning Effects with Different Reference Frames

To learn the structure of a large-scale space over time, an observer often builds representations of the environment using different reference frames. Traditionally, the development of mental spatial representations is believed to follow a sequence from egocentric to allocentric with learning (Herman & Siegel, 1977). However, other researchers have suggested that mental representations using different reference frames can develop in parallel (Gramann, Mueller, Eick, & Schoenebeck, 2005; Thorndyke & Hayes-Roth, 1982). According to this view, mental representations of a space may reflect learning from both a first-person perspective (as the observer moves through the space) and maps (drawn from a birds’-eye view). Birds’-eye view maps may also emphasize different reference frames depending on how they are oriented. The present project investigates the effect of learning from differently oriented maps on the reference frame reflected by the observer’s mental spatial representations.