Spatial Mental Models

There are many simple, everyday tasks, such as following road directions, using instructions to assemble a bicycle, reading a novel, or helping to solve your child’s geometry homework, that seem to entail constructing a spatial mental model from a description. In order to comprehend Go straight till the jrs t light, then turn left, go down about three blocks to Oak, and make a right, it is useful to have a spatial representation. Of course, the gist of the message could be remembered instead, but incorporating the instructions into a mental model helps, especially when things don’t quite turn out as expected, such as encountering a “No Left Turn” sign at the light. Indeed, there is evidence that people do construct such spatial models. The nature of such models is the topic of this article. Ample research in memory and comprehension of text supports the assertion that listeners or readers form not only representations of the language of the text-of sound or graphemic properties, of actual words or sentences, of gist-but also of the situation described by the text (Bransford, Barclay, & Franks, 1972; Garnham, 1981 ; Johnson-Laird, 1983; van Dijk & Kintsch, 1983; among others). Because they are familiar, universal, and objective, we have chosen to investigate descriptions of spatial environments. People have considerable experience converting spoken or written communications about environments into mental representations, and then acting on them. People then get feedback-they