Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 17, 2026

Orienteering as a Tool for Cognitive Research: An Implementation Guide
Published on: November 29, 2024
Cognitive mapping in humans and its relationship to other orientation skills
Aiden E G F Arnold1, Ford Burles, Taisya Krivoruchko
1NeuroLab, Department of Psychology, and Hotchkiss Brain Institute-A062, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive, NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada. aarnold@ucalgary.ca
Abstract:
Human orientation in novel and familiar environments is a complex skill that can involve numerous different strategies. To date, a comprehensive account of how these strategies interrelate at the behavioural level has not been documented, impeding the development of elaborate systems neuroscience models of spatial orientation. Here, we describe a virtual environment test battery designed to assess five of the core strategies used by humans to orient. Our results indicate that the ability to form a cognitive map is highly related to more basic orientation strategies, supporting previous proposals that encoding a cognitive map requires inputs from multiple domains of spatial processing. These findings provide a topology of numerous primary orientation strategies used by humans during orientation and will allow researchers to elaborate on neural models of spatial cognition that currently do not account for how different orientation strategies integrate over time based on environmental conditions.
Related Concept Videos
Cognitivism
Previously dominated by behaviorism, which prioritized observable behaviors and largely ignored mental processes, psychology transformed in the 1950s. Cognitive psychologists argue that understanding how we think and process information is...
Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
This field emerged in the mid-20th century, following a period dominated by behaviorism, which...
Cognitive Learning
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...
Understanding Self-Concept
Halo Effect
Cerebral Hemispheres

