A Sense of Space: Conceptualization in Wayfinding and Navigation

Abstract

This thesis addresses a gap in current cognitive work on fictive motion by exploring the factors involved in the production of fictive motion rather than the standard approach of investigating fictive motion processing.

Part 1 of this study consists of an experimental study of the production of coextension path fictive motion (such as the ravine ran beside the trail) in language used by hikers as they move along a trail through a complex terrain.

Part 2 is an ethnographic study of the wayfinding strategies recruited by American tourists in Paris in the production of general emanation path fictive motion (such as the museum overlooked the courtyard).

The major findings in this work suggest 1) that the role of compression in conceptual blends is a facilitating force in the production of fictive motion, and 2) this facilitating force motivates a semiotic typology of fictive motion that refines Talmyʼs original analysis.

Keywords: mental scanning, fictive motion, palpability, map usage, figure-ground organization, semiotics, compression, conceptual blending, cartography, photography