You probably know all this not so old contreversy: from linguistic
relativity, linguistic determinism state as consequence that speaker from
different language must see the world differently. It spring from the work
of Sapir-Whorf (comparing Hopi en English), and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
claimed that structural differences encoded radically different world
views. Chomsky was taking a different view with the linguistic universals
sampling unrelated language and seek common properties. This is not to
forget the difference/similarity between action and representation and
their observation.
At 12:21 08/11/99, alan penn wrote:
>Tony,
>
>Ive passed this email on to Young Kim - you are right that UK universities
>only print a couple of copies for the library, but the meat of the thesis
>will be being published as journal articles in the near (hopefully) future.
>
>With regard Ruth's work I think it is probably a bit distant from the
>relativist stance. Perhaps she would care to comment. However the research
>you speak of intrigues me - is the suggestion that people from different
>linguistic groups process spatial information differently? I must say this
>sounds highly dubious to me - I would suspect that people from the
>different groups might process/respond to the researcher's questions
>differently even if they processed spatial information in exactly the same
>way. Can you give me a reference to the work as I would really like to see
>what methods and data they used and how they got around the language filter
>problem in their work.
>
>Alan
>
>>A couple of questions and points regarding Alan Penn's comments.
>>
>>First, I would be most interested to read Yoiung Kim's thesis - as well as
>>to pass a copy on to a friend in Finland who is interested in such things. I
>>beleive that British universities do not follow the European practiuce of
>>making 100 copies of PhD theses, available for distribution, etc. Is
>>inter-library loan (or a trip to London), UMI dissertations (if available),
>>or an appeal to the candidate himself the only way to get hold of the
>>thesis?
>>
>>Ruth Conway's research is interesting for a friend of mine in Finland, who
>>has taken up similar sounding notions within that most un--fashionable of
>>empirical domains, namely cognitive relativism; the twist in the theoretical
>>story, however, is not to beg the question of linguistic relativism (John
>>Lucy, eg.) but to posit imagery as the domain of thought: his cross-cultural
>>studies show, in my very general description of his conclusions, that
>>Indo-European speakers prioritize vectoral movements and 3-dimensional while
>>non-Indo-Es gestalt boundariness. But I may have misseed th epoint of both
>>these theses. Any other cross-cultural research within the field?
>>
>>Tony Reagan
>>Dublin/Boston
>>
>>
>>
>>>From: alan penn <[log in to unmask]>
>>>Reply-To: alan penn <[log in to unmask]>
>>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>>Subject: Re: cognitive studies...
>>>Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 12:44:02 +0100
>>>
>>>Mohamed Salheen wrote:
>>>
>>> >I am Mohamed Salheen PhD candidate in architecture at Edinburgh College
>>>of
>>> >Art. I am using Space Syntax in the analysis of my case study, which is
>>> >Cairo-Egypt- and its city centre. I am using it together with other
>>>research
>>> >techniques in order an integrated understanding of the pedestrian
>>> >environment in the case study.
>>> >
>>> >I would like first to ask if any one is interested in discussing the
>>>details
>>> >of that topic. Second I was looking for any information on previous and
>>> >current studies linking both techniques space syntax and cognitive
>>>mapping.
>>> >I will appreciate very much any information you could give me.
>>>
>>>Some pointers. There are two recent PhD's at UCL that touch on this:
>>>
>>>Dongkuk Chang - 'Integrated multi level circulation systems in dense urban
>>>areas: the effect of complex spatial designs on multi-level pedestrian
>>>movement.' PhD Thesis, University of London, 1998
>>>
>>>This looks in particular at highly unintelligible (using the syntax
>>>definition of the term) developments and uses these to try and disentangle
>>>which factors other than simple configuration can be held to affect
>>>pedestrian movement patterns. This does not make use of cognitive mapping,
>>>but does shed light on spatial cognition. Parts of the study are published
>>>in Chang & Penn, 'Integrated multi level circulation systems in dense urban
>>>areas:the effect of mutiple interacting constraints on the use of complex
>>>urban areas', Env & Planning B, 25, 507-538, Pion 1998.
>>>
>>>Young Kim - 'Spatial configuration, spatial cognition and spatial
>>>behaviour: the role of architectual intelligibilty in shaping spatial
>>>experience.' PhD Thesis, University of London, 1999
>>>
>>>This has put together analysis of spatial configuration, observations of
>>>the way people vote with their feet throgh movement observations, and a
>>>cognitive mapping exercise using free recall mapping and boundary
>>>delimitation. By doing all three on an urban area with intelligible and
>>>unintelligible halves (again using the syntax definition), Kim was able to
>>>unpack the relationship between intelligibility as a property of the
>>>environment, effects of configuration on movement patterns and so learning
>>>opportunity, and people's cognition - so far as that can be estimated by
>>>sketch mapping exercises. One innovation was to use axial mapping of the
>>>sketch maps themselves as a means of analysing these as configurations with
>>>a topology rather than just as lists of features. This thesis is probably
>>>the most relevant to your concerns.
>>>
>>>The third current PhD in the syntax/cognition field is Ruth Conroy who is
>>>using experiments on people using an immersive VR headset to track and
>>>follow gaze direction as they move through virtual environments. The
>>>environments include models of real and experimental environments, with the
>>>experimental ones designed to test various configurational properties. The
>>>benefit of immersion is that the record of precise bahaviour, pause points,
>>>gaze direction etc. can be automatically captured, and it is possible to
>>>control the environments to maintain equal levels of surface detail etc.
>>>This work is in the final stages of write-up.
>>>
>>>There is also some work going on in this area at Atlanta, in particular:
>>>
>>>Abdulgader Amir - The spatial logic of pedestrian movement and exploration
>>>in the central area of Jeddah: the effect of spatial configuration on
>>>shopping behaviour, PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1998.
>>>
>>>This looked at individual wayfinding, but did not really look at cognition
>>>- it should still be relevant to your case.
>>>
>>>There is a second current doctoral student at GIT who I met in Brasil - but
>>>whose name escapes me - sorry (help pelase John!) who is working in this
>>>area and may be worth contacting.
>>>
>>>Apologies to anyone Ive forgotton but shouldn't have, and I'd be interested
>>>in knowing of anyone else doing work in this area
>>>(syntax/cognition/cognitive mapping).
>>>
>>>Alan
>>>
>
>
>
>________________________________________________________
>Alan Penn, Reader in Architectural and Urban Computing
>Director, VR Centre for the Built Environment
>The Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning
>1-19 Torrington Place (Room 335)
>University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
>tel. (+44) 020 7504 5919 fax. (+44) 020 7916 1887
>mobile. (+44) 0411 696875
>email. [log in to unmask]
>www. http://www.vr.ucl.ac.uk/
>________________________________________________________
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