Spatial Learning

The process of acquiring and integrating information about an environment into cognitive maps — mental representations of spatial relationships between places, paths, and landmarks. For sighted individuals, spatial learning occurs largely through casual visual observation. For people who are visually impaired, spatial learning requires deliberate effort, relying on verbal descriptions, tactile exploration, auditory and olfactory cues, and repeated travel through an environment. Research identifies four progressive types of spatial information: high-level descriptions, safety information, navigation details, and places and activities of interest. Assistive technologies can support spatial learning through both push interactions (proactive information delivery) and pull interactions (user-requested information).