{"pk":32909,"title":"The Heuristics of Spatial Cognition","subtitle":null,"abstract":"Distance estimation has been used extensively in the investigation of cognitive maps, yet it is not well understood as a cognitive process in its own right and, as a result, has been viewed as a simple read-out from a spatial representation. In contrast, this paper considers distance estimation to be a complex mental process in which heuristics guide the choice of strategies. Specifically, verbal protocols were collected on a distance estimation task for 20 undergraduates using a variety of city pairs in U.S. and Canada. On the basis of these data, distance estimation is shown to be a constructive process, using a relatively limited number of heuristics, such as addition, hedges and ratios. The choice of heuristics and the time to make a judgment are shown to be related to variables such as the familiarity of locations and the distance to be judged. The advantage of viewing distance estimation as a constructive process rather than a passive readout off an intemal map is argued.","language":"eng","license":{"name":"","short_name":"","text":null,"url":""},"keywords":[],"section":"Paper Presentations -- Heuristics in Reasoning","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0113r9s0","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Stephen","middle_name":"C.","last_name":"Hirtle","name_suffix":"","institution":"University of Pittsburgh","department":""},{"first_name":"Michael","middle_name":"F.","last_name":"Mascolo","name_suffix":"","institution":"Merrimack College","department":""}],"date_submitted":null,"date_accepted":null,"date_published":"1991-01-01T18:00:00Z","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"PDF","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/cognitivesciencesociety/article/32909/galley/23969/download/"}]}