How Do You Get There from Here? Mental Representations of Route Descriptions LAURA F. SCHNEIDER 1 and HOLLY A. TAYLOR 2 * 1 Texas Wesleyan University, USA 2 Tufts University, USA SUMMARY In two experiments, participants received a spatial description relating a route through an environment. Descriptions diered in terms of the spatial perspective presented, either route or survey, and the degree to which spatial information was determined, either indeterminate, determinate, or overdeterminate. In Experiment 1, participants read the description and in Experiment 2 they listened to the description and took notes for later use. Results indicated that perspective and determinacy in¯uenced memory and the contents of participants' notes. More speci®cally, perspective in¯uenced the integration of information. The eect of deter- minacy depended on degree. Indeterminacy in¯uenced use of a mental representation, in particular during way®nding. Overdeterminacy stressed working memory, thereby in¯uencing many aspects of performance. In summary, perspective and determinacy, which commonly vary in spatial descriptions, in¯uence the ability to eciently use descriptions. Copyright # 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Imagine that a friend has just called to invite you to dinner. During the conversation, she gives you directions to her house. While listening to the directions, you may attempt dierent strategies for using them later, such as jotting down notes, memorizing, and/or forming a mental representation. Later in the week, using your memory, notes, and/or mental representation, you ®nd her house with little trouble. This familiar situation involves an extremely complex task requiring the mapping of verbal information onto a spatial layout. What might aect our representations of environments learned from verbal descriptions? The present research assesses potential in¯uences on memory and use of verbal directions, in particular the spatial perspective imparted and the determinacy of spatial information in the description. Perspective commonly refers to the viewpoint taken on the environment, either within (route) or above (survey). Because these perspectives usually come from dierent information sources, such as from maps or through navigation, other factors contribute to the overall sense of each perspective. These factors include the reference CCC 0888±4080/99/050415±27 $17.50 Copyright # 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Accepted 3 September 1998 APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Appl. Cognit. Psychol. 13: 415±441 (1999) *Correspondence to: Holly A. Taylor, 490 Boston Avenue, Research Building, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA. E-mail: htaylor@emerald.tufts.edu Contract grant sponsor: Texas Christian University Faculty Research Fund.