Welcome at the IMMAP International Mental Map Association Platform!

What is Mental Mapping?

Mental or cognitive mapping is the product of a series of psychological processes that register, code, store, then call to mind and decode all information on our everyday spatial environment. In this sense cognitive mapping is a cognitive characteristic to be found in our minds. When a researcher does mental mapping, he is actually interested in mapping maps, that is collecting and interpreting mental maps in our minds.

Source: Verity Freebern, PatternoftheDay.com

What is mental map?

In our minds the use of space often re-defines the actual image of our surroundings. Distances covered on a daily basis seem shorter, while rarely visited places seem farther away. We perceive our own environment as friendlier than other districts of the city that we may regard as strange or alien, even dangerous. It goes without saying that the notions of distance and proximity, what is ours or what is alien to us, are all subjective matters, determined by prior experiences, motivations and abilities. According to Downs and Stea (1973:15) mental or cognitive mapping is the product of a series of psychological processes that register, code, store, then call to mind and decode all information on our everyday spatial environment.