Author:
Woods Carl T.,Araújo Duarte,Davids Keith
Abstract
AbstractIn a recent issue of Psychological Research, Bock, O., Huang, J-Y., Onur, O. A., & Memmert, D. (2024). The structure of cognitive strategies for wayfinding decisions. Psychological Research Psychologische Forschung, 88, 476–486. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-023-01863-3.) investigated cognitive strategies purported to guide wayfinding decisions at intersections. Following experimentation in a virtualised maze, it was concluded that intersectional wayfinding decisions were based on a ‘generalized cognitive process’, in addition to ‘strategy-specific’ processes. The aim of our comment is not to challenge these findings or their methodological rigour. Rather, we note how the study of human wayfinding has been undertaken from entirely different metatheoretical perspectives in psychological science. Leaning on the seminal work of James Gibson and Harry Heft, we consider wayfinding as a continuous, integrated perception-action process, distributed across the entire organism-environment system. Such a systems-oriented, ecological approach to wayfinding remediates the organismic asymmetry pervasive to extant theories of human behaviours, foregrounding the possibility for empirical investigation that takes seriously the socio-cultural contexts in which inhabitants dwell.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Reference37 articles.
1. Altman, I., & Rogoff, B. (1987). World views in psychology: Trait, interactional, organismic, and transactional perspective. In D. Stokols, & I. Altman (Eds.), Handbook of environmental psychology, Vol. 1 (pp. 7–40). John Wiley.
2. Araújo, D., Davids, K., & Hristovski, R. (2006). The ecological dynamics of decision-making in sport. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 7(6), 653–676. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2006.07.002
3. Araújo, D., Diniz, A., Passos, P., & Davids, K. (2014). Decision-making in social neurobiological systems modeled as transitions in dynamic pattern formation. Adaptive Behavior, 22(1), 21–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059712313497370
4. Araújo, D., Brymer, E., Brito, H., Withagen, R., & Davids, K. (2019). The empowering variability of affordances of nature: Why do exercises feel better after performing the same exercise in natural environments than in indoor environments? Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 42, 138–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2018.12.020
5. Bock, O., Huang, J-Y., Onur, O. A., & Memmert, D. (2024). The structure of cognitive strategies for wayfinding decisions. Psychological Research Psychologische Forschung, 88, 476–486. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-023-01863-3