The acquisition, utilization, and extension of a spatial mental model were assessed for young and older adults. The model consisted of a map with nine buildings. In acquisition, 91% of the young adults and 62% of the older adults were able to acquire the mental model as determined by a strict criterion. There were age differences in trials required to reach criterion. However, once acquired, th...

BACKGROUND Substantial policy, communication and operational gaps exist between mental health services and the police for individuals with enduring mental health needs. AIMS To map and cost pathways through mental health and police services, and to model the cost impact of implementing key policy recommendations. METHOD Within a case-linkage study, we estimated 1-year individual-level healt...

The interrelationship between mental models of a cellular phone menu and performance depending on users’ age was under study. The mental representation was assessed through card-sorting technique in 32 novice users (16 aged 20-32, 16 50-64 years). First, they had to process four common tasks on two simulated mobiles enabling online logging of users’ actions. None of the older participants had a...

Mystery surrounds the cause of large individual differences in mental imagery vividness and strength, and how these might map onto mental disorders. Here, we report the concentration of sex hormones predicts the strength and vividness of visual mental imagery. We employed an objective measure of imagery utilizing binocular rivalry and a subjective questionnaire to assess imagery. The strength a...

Behavioral studies have shown that spatial skills, such as mental rotation, are correlated with preferences for certain types of spatial information. To be more specific, better mental rotation is associated with a preference for survey (maplike) spatial information relative to route (landmark or wayfinding) information. Functional MRI was used to investigate how individual differences in spati...

Background: Subjects with hemispatial neglect often exhibit representational neglect: a failure to report details from the left side of mentally visualized images. This failure could reflect impaired ability to generate the left side of the mental image, or it could reflect failure to explore the left side of a normally generated mental image. When subjects with hemispatial neglect look at pict...

Background Wayfinding involves behavior in order to navigate between the two points of origin and destination. The importance of this issue is considerable; because facility of wayfinding is directly related to improving the efficiency of space, and its psychological effects on human life. This study focuses on the effective physical factors in the wayfinding of ...

This paper presents a three-component model of the travel processes of blind and partially sighted people. Significant features of the model include the fact that it is based on a process involving information processing and route and spatial learning rather than one-off journeys. The model has the following three components: (1) the travel process i.e. the activities which take place on a part...

Mental mapping of spaces is essential for the development of efficient orientation and mobility skills. Most of the information required for this mental mapping is gathered through the visual channel. People who are blind lack this information, and in consequence, they are required to use compensatory sensorial channels and alternative exploration methods. In this study, people who are blind us...

The ability to imagine ourselves in the past, in the future or in different spatial locations suggests that the brain can generate cognitive maps that are independent of the experiential self in the here and now. Using three experiments, we asked to which extent Mental Time Travel (MTT; imagining the self in time) and Mental Space Navigation (MSN; imagining the self in space) shared similar cog...