LEARNING FROM MAPS - GENERAL PROCESSES AND MAP-STRUCTURE INFLUENCES

Five experiments investigating the manner in which information is acqu ired from maps are reported. In Experiments 1 and 2, map elements plac ed more toward the periphery of the map were better learned than inter nally placed elements (called a peripheral learning bias). This result was replicated using both directional errors and map drawings as meas ures of participants' learning. In Experiments 3 to 5, map structure w as varied to determine if this learning pattern resulted from the stru cture of the map or from a general learning strategy applied to a vari ety of maps. The results showed that both processes were evident The r esults are discussed in terms of the difficulties people have in organ izing maps into whole, coherent images.