Not every writer can just start pouring their words into a digital notebook. Not even physical. Some follow a scheme, a map to pen down any article or even a literary piece. An individual, while generating an article, may sketch the outlines before typing anything of content. These outlines include headings, sub-headings, and assigning several words under the limit. It also includes recalling the feedback received previously. This helps them create a valuable guide to their article structure.
This created a ‘mental map’ by organising the space and flow without actually putting forward any content. Similarly, individuals form mental maps of the physical world around themselves. These mental organisations assist in shaping, navigating and forming emotional connections with and in different spaces.
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What are Mental maps?
Mental maps are cognitive tools for representing spatial knowledge, and they can be used for orientation in spatial absences (B. Guelton 2023). The brain makes use of sensations, memory and individual imagination to form a sketch of the environment and its interaction. However, it won’t always be complete. It can be distorted, blurred, biased or even incorrect.
For example, if a friend asks you directions to your house, you might not be aware of the actual distance, but you can mention that the road that appears before your society is a four-five minutes’ walk and then one will see the name and to the left a small temple and then the stairs. The brain has organised these elements in a comprehensible manner.
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Mental mapping through the Cognitive angle
According to a study, landmarks, routes or signalling regions create reference points that are easy to commit to memory in less complex environments. These landmarks are anchor points, for example, a water fountain, followed by a small temple, while locating from one block to another on the campus. Routes, on the other hand, are just paths connecting these anchors.
Interestingly, it has been shown that heavy reliance on GPS can lead to weaker use of spatial memory. They might take learners away from developing spatial maps by prejudicing exploratory, situated experiences, impacting learning. (Brügger et al., 2019; Nature, 2021)
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How Mental Maps go beyond Geometry: Emotional Angle
While going somewhere, you see your old school. There have been some slight constructional changes. Yet, you might still remember where your favourite spot would be, where you would eat lunch with your friends. Sitting at home, you can imagine the café where you had first fallen in love, where the heartbreak followed and the park where your grandfather took you to. These places are much more symbolic than their physical existence.
The attachment people feel to a physical space is related to greater life satisfaction and well-being, and through the natural progression of life events, changes in culture, and alterations in the environment, people create place-based relationships with long-term inhabitation. Time, as it relates to the impact of human memory (and memory itself), can offer different viewpoints of currently experienced spaces, signalling relative change over time (Lomas et. al, 2024).
Mental Maps Transcending Identity
Mental maps not only denote geographical representation, but also can represent a sense of identity and belonging, especially for immigrants, as they hold two maps that both represent where they’re from and where they’re currently residing. They have strong emotional attachments to these maps, often integrating cultural messages that are symbolic representations of their experiences while being adjusted to a new way of living.
Likewise, marginalised populations create similar but different unique mental maps, indicating safe/unsafe and accepted/not accepted places. Thus, it serves not only to represent geographies but also are psychological traces of lived experiences that represent geography, power, culture, and social organisation.
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Applications of Mental Maps in Everyday Life
Mental mapping is also a useful way to assess vehicle use risk perception in conjunction with a visual element, and a process that can include the public. Perceived risk is influenced by physical attributes such as infrastructure, road width, volume of traffic, gender, and experience (Manton et. al, 2016). Mental maps have also been effective in promoting the use of listening and taking notes in students, completing lecture notes in shorter time periods, and improving memorisation of information (Romanovskyi et. al, 2018).
A person’s prefrontal cortex uses representations of the task at hand based on these mental maps, and decisions are made using internal conditions from these maps. Decisions based on these mental maps can also guide relatively similar processes when representing spatial as opposed to conceptual mental maps (Kaplan et. al, 2017).
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Space isn’t neutral- it’s created by memory, emotions and identity
Mental maps are valuable educational resources to facilitate improved information organisation, performance measurement, creativity, and critical thinking skills. They promote understanding and retention through symbols, colours, and keywords, which have a noted positive effect on overall learning performance, especially in factual, conceptual, and procedural knowledge (Bîlcan, 2024).
It also supports the visual modality of learning, creates an effective note-taking strategy, and aids in memory recall (Kolenakova, 2019). Mental maps can represent collective knowledge and personal stories, where many individuals shift in their environments (Edlund, 2018). With mental maps, we understand how individuals make sense of the world and their closest surrounding situations and places.
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The intersection of mapping and meaning
Mental maps serve as more than maps for orientation—they are actualisations of memory, identity, and belonging. By fusing spatial awareness with affect and experience, mental maps help guide us through our physical and symbolic spaces. This eventually allows geography to become meaningful human stories.
FAQs
1. What are mental maps?
Mental maps are internal, cognitive representations of physical or conceptual spaces. They help us organise, navigate, and emotionally connect to environments, blending memory, sensory input, and imagination.
2. Why are landmarks important in mental maps?
Landmarks act as anchor points, making it easier to remember routes or places. For instance, a temple, fountain, or café becomes a reference that structures one’s spatial awareness.
3. How does GPS affect mental map development?
Studies show heavy reliance on GPS weakens spatial memory and limits exploration, reducing the brain’s ability to naturally form detailed mental maps (Brügger et al., 2019; Nature, 2021).
4. Do mental maps only represent physical spaces?
No. Mental maps also capture emotions, identity, and cultural experiences. For example, immigrants may hold two maps—of their homeland and their current place—reflecting belonging and adaptation.
5. How are mental maps applied in daily life?
Mental maps support learning, decision-making, and risk perception. They enhance note-taking, improve memory, and even guide urban planning or transport safety studies.
Refrences +
Bîlcan, I. (2024). The importance and relevance of mind maps in modern education. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-importance-and-relevance-of-mind-m aps-in-modern-B%C3%AElcan/cbde1e4ac699c5e934bb415686ce54ee1db9930d
Brügger, A., Richter, K., & Fabrikant, S. I. (2019). How does navigation system behaviour influence human behaviour? Cognitive Research Principles and Implications, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-019-0156-5
Buhr, F. (2021). Migrants’ Mental Maps: Unpacking inhabitants’ practical knowledges in Lisbon. In IMISCOE research series (pp. 51–65). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67608-7_3
Clemenson, G. D., Maselli, A., Fiannaca, A. J., Miller, A., & Gonzalez-Franco, M. (2021). Rethinking GPS navigation: creating cognitive maps through auditory clues. Scientific Reports, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-87148-4
Edlund, L. (2017). Some reflections on mental maps. Journal of Cultural Geography, 35(2), 274–285. https://doi.org/10.1080/08873631.2017.1362934
Guelton, B. (2023). “Mental maps”: Between memorial transcription and symbolic projection. Frontiers in Psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1142238
Kaplan, R., Schuck, N. W., & Doeller, C. F. (2017). The role of mental maps in Decision-Making. Trends in Neurosciences, 40(5), 256–259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2017.03.002
Koleňáková, R. Š. (2019). MENTAL MAPS IN THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS AND THEIR IMPACT ON PUPILS’ LEARNING PERFORMANCE. EDULEARN Proceedings, 1, 9786–9794. https://doi.org/10.21125/edulearn.2019.2441
Lomas, M. J., Ayodeji, E., & Brown, P. (2023). Imagined places of the past: the interplay of time and memory in the maintenance of place attachment. Current Psychology, 43(3), 2618–2629. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04421-7
Manton, R., Rau, H., Fahy, F., Sheahan, J., & Clifford, E. (2016). Using mental mapping to unpack perceived cycling risk. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 88, 138–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2015.12.017
Romanovskyi, O. G., Grineva, V. M., & Rezvan, O. O. (2018). МЕНТАЛЬНІ КАРТИ ЯК ІННОВАЦІЙНИЙ СПОСІБ ОРГАНІЗАЦІЇ ІНФОРМАЦІЇ в НАВЧАЛЬНОМУ ПРОЦЕСІ ВИЩОЇ ШКОЛИ. Information Technologies and Learning Tools, 64(2), 185. https://doi.org/10.33407/itlt.v64i2.2187
