A Look at Images

The term “image” has been used in many different types of geographic studies. Recently, some geographers have expressed doubts concerning the meaningfulness of concepts such as mental maps and images. Interest in the measurement and function of images, however, has remained strong in the geographic and psychological literature. Geographers should be more concerned with fundamental issues concerning how spatial information is coded, stored, reconstructed, and processed in memory. Three competing image theories have evolved over the past decade that geographers could find potentially useful. A review of empirical research in the psychology and geography literature has indicated the importance of methods and theoretical concepts developed by image researchers. These methods and theories could be used by geographers interested in problems related to cognitive mapping and spatial behavior.