DIFFERENCES AMONG ARCHITECTURE UNDERGRADUATES IN THE MENTAL-MAP REPRESENTATION OF A UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

摘要

This study analyzed the mental-map representations of one floor of a building by architecture undergraduates at the University of A Coruna, Spain. Participants included 260 undergraduates from the school of architecture - 125 second-year and 135 fourth-year students. The study consisted of two tasks. First, participants were given five minutes to draw a mental map of the first-floor library at the school of architecture. Second, to evaluate their spatial abilities, participants were given a test that measured their ability to form spatial mental imagery. The drawings of the second-year students were then compared with those of the fourth-year students, evaluating the number of elements represented and their configuration. All of the participants employed the same "top view " representation technique, a plan view of the dihedral system, without incorporating elevation or three-dimensional views. The fourth-year students included more elements than the second-year students. Spatial-imagery ability influenced the number of elements included and their configuration.