Individual differences in spatial language and way-finding: the role of cognition, emotion and motivation.

People can experiencean envirenment in differnt ways and from different points of view:by moving around in it, inspecting it from above (flying,viewing from a mountain top or high building), studying a map, or listening to a verbal description. How an environment is experienced can influence its spatial representation and, as a consequence, spatial performance. However, this latter can also be influences by a series if factors inheret to individuals: gender, spatial and working memoeìry abilities, cognitive styles in spatial representation, motivation and attitude toward spatial task, emotion and personality. Here I present an overiew of a serie of research programs underway in the Laboratory of Learning and Memory at the University of Padua Department of General Psychology.Our research on spatial cognition has focused on two main topics: (i) memory and comprehension of spatial language, (ii) navigation and way-finding behavior. In both cases, particular emphasis has been given to the study of individual differences. Spatial text comprehension and navigation vary widely among individuals. We investigated potential sources of individual differences and examined the roles of spatial abilities, working memory, cognitive style in spatial representation, as well as those of other non cognitive variables: motivation, personality and emotion. To measure individual differences in sense of direction (SOD), cognitive stykes in spatial representation, motivation in performing spatial task, and spatial anxiety, we constructed a numeber of self rate scale, which are illustrated in terms of performance on various spatial tasks.