Is The Iron Curtain Still Present? Characteristic Distance Distortions In Germany

References • Carbon, C. C. (accepted-2006). Distance estimations between German cities: biased by social factors and the Autobahn. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. • Carbon, C. C., & Leder, H. (2005). The Wall inside the Brain: Overestimation of distances crossing the former iron curtain. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 12(4), 746-750. • Ekman, G., & Bratfisch, O. (1965). Subjective distance and emotional involvement. A psychological mechanism. Acta Psychologica, 24, 430-437. • Hirtle, S. C., & Jonides, J. (1985). Evidence of hierarchies in cognitive maps. Memory and Cognition, 13(3), 208-217. • McNamara, T. P. (1986). Mental representations of spatial relations. Cognitive Psychology, 18(1), 87-121. A study about distance estimations between German cities investigated the organization of mental maps and their specific deviations from reality (Carbon & Leder, 2005). Potential factors for the deviation of mental maps from reality are physical barriers, emotional involvement (see Excursus below), and semantic unity. Distance estimations between cities situated in different former parts of Germany (East or West) were systematically overestimated compared to distances of cities located in the same parts of Germany. This trend was even more pronounced when participants had a negative attitude towards the reunification of Germany. The impact of these results is far reaching, because overestimated distances between both German parts indicate that a mental wall continues to exist between East and West, even in young people’s minds — fourteen years after the German reunification. Further analyses revealed that participants, although advised to estimate Air Distances, based their estimations on Autobahn kilometers, probably due to their everyday relevance (Carbon, accepted-2006). Abstract