Friedman et al. (2012) had American and Canadian college students examine maps of California and Alberta.Either the maps were marked only with dots and not marked with city names or the maps were marked with dots and the city names associated with the state or province.The results of their study:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The results of the study were consistent with a view that cognitive maps are influenced by semantic categories, as the addition of city names (a semantic category) helped participants accurately place the dots on the map. The study did not refute years of research on cognitive maps or test whether dot distance was a feature of semantic memory.

Friedman Et Al