Effects of Task Demand and Familiarity with Scenes in Visuospatial Representations on the Perception and Processing of Spatial Information

Abstract

This study examined the effects of task demand and familiarity on students' perception and processing of spatial information upon viewing visuospatial representations. Participants in South Korea were told that they would travel through an area, either drawing a map or observing the scenery depicted in photographs. The level of familiarity in the photographs was manipulated in three categories: neighborhood, Seoul (capital city of South Korea), and foreign cities. In two experiments, this study investigated students' eye movements, memory, and response sensitivity and bias. The results indicate that the participants in the map-drawing condition focused on structural information, such as routes, and that their memory of the scenes was more accurate. Moreover, the map-drawing group students were more sensitive and prudent in their responses. The increased level of familiarity also made students focus on structural information. The findings provide useful strategies for geography educators to use visuospatial representations.

Key Words:

• task demand
• familiarity
• structural information
• eye movement
• signal detection theory

Notes

1. Diverse methods such as interviews and think-aloud strategies have been used to examine students' thinking processes. Despite the usefulness of these strategies, these methods are limited because students' verbal reporting may not match their thinking or behavior (Çöltekin et al. 2009). The eye-tracking method provides more direct information on the way that students' minds and brains function. Hence, a wide range of fields, such as multimedia learning (Ozcelik et al. 2009; Schmidt-Weigand, Kohnert, and Glowalla 2010), medical education (Krupinski et al. 2006), reading (Justice et al. 2005; Liu 2014), and expert-novice differences (Jarodzka et al. 2010), have adopted eye-movement analysis. The eye-movement technique thus represents an effective method to examine students' attention to visuospatial representations (Brunyé and Taylor 2009).

2. Because prior research with similar experimental procedures did not identify a gender effect (Kim et al. 2015), this study did not consider gender composition. However, an in-depth investigation of gender effects on students' performances represents a promising future research topic. We are preparing for a study in which diverse gender influences are examined in the use of visuospatial representations.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kinam Kim

Kinam Kim is a geography teacher in Yedang High School in South Korea. His primary interests include students' recognition about environments, map cognition, eye-movement method, and communication between teachers and students in geography education.

Minsung Kim

Minsung Kim is an Associate Research Fellow in the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation in South Korea. His primary research interests include spatial literacy and cognition, geospatial technologies, and teaching and learning strategies in geography education.