Accelerating Research Advances in Collective Spatial Cognition
Abstract
The Center for Location Science at the University of Alabama (CLS), in partnership with the Department of Geography at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), and with the support of the Foundational Science Research Unit of the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences is conducting research to explore the social, psychological, and behavioral phenomenon of spatial cognition as it occurs in human collectives such as work teams. This research is bringing together an international group of scholars at the forefront of research about collective spatial cognition through a symposium series that produces an edited volume. This approach will integrate at least three major bodies of research: the science of spatial cognition as developed by psychologists, behavioral geographers, linguists, and others, the science of team cognition as developed by industrial/organizational psychologists, social psychologists, and others, and the science of spatial information and decision making, as developed by cartographers and geographers, GIScientists, operations researchers, computer scientists, and others. It is posited that enhanced knowledge about how organizations think spatially will benefit the ArmyÕs selection, training, and employment of its forces, which frequently conduct complex tasks in unfamiliar environments as teams and systems of teams. This kind of insight becomes especially important in highly urbanized settings, when teams are impaired, or where the complexity, gravity, and scale of an operation reaches a critical operational juncture. More specifically, this work represents the first stages of a process of outlining and defining a growing field of research termed Collective Spatial Cognition. The research spans geographic scale from micro-geographic behaviors of children to global emergency response operations. The collectives under study can be as small as dyads (teams of two) to large teams-of-teams who are working alongside each other to complete a mutual goal. The research methods are facilitative; that is the research team seeks out scholars who have interest in Collective Spatial Cognition and solicits their input regarding what contribution they can make toward establishing the research foundation. This input is fostered through the request first for extended abstracts on their subject of choice, then more detailed position papers describing how their work applies to all three components of the research effort (Collectives, Spatial analysis and behavior, and Cognition). These papers are to be presented in a collaborative Specialist Meeting, where the group will review and discuss the individual contributions and determine the ways in which the foundation can be strengthened. Through several iterations, including journal-quality review of papers, and a second specialist meeting, an edited volume will be produced that documents the current status of the field of Collective Spatial Cognition, and proposes a path forward for research in this area for the foreseeable future.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 22, 2019
- Source ID
- W911NF1810273
Entities
People
- Kevin M. Curtin
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- United States Army
- University of Alabama