Representational pseudoneglect and reference points both influence geographic location estimates

Our mental representation of the world is far from objective. For example, western Canadians estimate the locations of North American cities to be too far to the west. This bias could be due to a reference point effect, in which people estimate more space between places close to them than far from t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychonomic bulletin & review 2012-04, Vol.19 (2), p.277-284
Main Authors: Friedman, Alinda, Mohr, Christine, Brugger, Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Bias
Biological and medical sciences
Brief Report
Canada
Cognitive Psychology
Estimates
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Geography
Humans
Male
Maps as Topic
Perception
Photic Stimulation
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Space Perception
United States
Vision
Young Adult
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Summary:Our mental representation of the world is far from objective. For example, western Canadians estimate the locations of North American cities to be too far to the west. This bias could be due to a reference point effect, in which people estimate more space between places close to them than far from them, or to representational pseudoneglect, in which neurologically intact individuals favor the left side of space when asked to image a scene. We tested whether either or both of these biases influence the geographic world representations of neurologically intact young adults from Edmonton and Ottawa, which are in western and eastern Canada, respectively. Individuals were asked to locate North American cities on a two-dimensional grid. Both groups revealed effects of representational pseudoneglect in this novel paradigm, but they also each exhibited reference point effects. These results inform theories in both cognitive psychology and neuroscience.
ISSN:1069-9384
1531-5320
DOI:10.3758/s13423-011-0202-x