[citation needed] They study it to determine subjective qualities from the public such as personal preference and practical uses of geography like driving directions.
For instance, a person might perceive a small island to be nearly the size of a continent, merely based on the amount of news coverage that they are exposed to on a regular basis.
[2][failed verification] In psychology, the term names the information maintained in the mind of an organism by means of which it may plan activities, select routes over previously traveled territories, etc.
A study by Matei et al. in 2001 used mental maps to reveal the role of media in shaping urban space in Los Angeles.
The results showed that people's fear perceptions in Los Angeles are not associated with high crime rates but are instead associated with a concentration of certain ethnicities in a given area.
[11] The mental maps recorded in the study draw attention to these areas of concentrated ethnicities as parts of the urban space to avoid or stay away from.
The study looked into the absence of children in today's cities and the urban environment from a child's perspective of safety, stress and fear.
The book asks of its participants: “Suppose you were suddenly given the chance to choose where you would like to live- an entirely free choice that you could make quite independently of the usual constraints of income or job availability.
He argues that popular mental maps of where regions begin and end can have a significant impact on the strategic behaviour of states.
[15] A collection of essays, documenting current geographical and historical research in mental maps is published by the Journal of Cultural Geography in 2018.