Effects of valence on selecting and memorizing spatial information from road maps

Abstract

Movements in unfamiliar environments require navigational tasks, which can be supported by selecting and memorizing spatial information from maps. However, this process of information extraction from maps is initiated and surrounded by a personal, emotional context. Since emotion and cognition are interlaced aspects and the visual search for information acquisition is influenced by mood and memory (Kruijne & Meeter, 2015;Storbeck & Clore, 2005), this research aims at determining the effects of valence on selecting and memorizing spatial information from road maps (e.g. google maps). Thereby it shall be evaluated, if common cartographic practices of visual appearance, e.g. saliency or hierarchy of objects, or the represented information itself, are in accordance with a users` need or notion of space under different emotional contexts.