Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

How do skilled map-readers use topographic maps to figure out where in the world they are? Our research addresses this question by studying the problem solving of experienced map-readers as they solve localization Where am I? - problems. Localization relies upon judgments of similarity and difference between the contour information of the map and the topographic information in the terrain. In this paper we discuss experiments that focus on how map-readers use attributes and structural relations to support judgments of similarity and difference. In our field and laboratory experiments, experienced map-readers implicitly define attributes to be detailed descriptors of individual topographic features. They use structural relations that link two or more topographic features as predicates. The time-course of their problem solving suggests that attributes and relations are psychologically distinct. Attributes like slope, e.g., "steep (hill)", support only initial judgments of difference. Relations like "(this hill) falls steeply down into (a valley)" are more powerful, supporting both judgments of difference and judgments of similarity. Judgments based on relations are used to test hypotheses about location. Experienced map readers exploit the distinction between attributes and relations as they solve localization problems efficiently.