Welcome to the Spatial and Map Cognition Research Laboratory

- SMACRL -

The Spatial and Map Cognition Research Laboratory is housed in the Department of Geography at the University of Oregon. We are a research laboratory composed of students and faculty, under the direction of Dr. Amy Lobben. We engage in inter- and cross-disciplinary research in areas such as:

map use

spatial abilities

spatial and map task measurement

fMRI as a behavioral geography testing method

instrument assessment

tactile maps and mapping

neurological studies in spatial abilities and map use

visual search and visual variables

spatial memory

mental mapping

route planning

map 'phobia'

Research and methods include varied instrumentation (some created in the lab and some widely-used measures). We have developed a Flash-based test delivery method that allows researchers to deliver testing instruments through the WWW and record and deliver subject responses directly into an Access database. Most importantly, this delivery is flexible, allowing us (with reasonable ease) to change the instrument specifics, but maintain the delivery and collection of data.

Please direct questions or inquiries to Amy Lobben, lobben at uoregon.edu

Research funding for various lab projects has been provided by:

National Science Foundation - HRD-RDE

National Institutes on Drug Abuse - National Institutes of Health

Department of Radiology - Michigan State University

Lewis Center for Neuro Imaging - University of Oregon

Please visit faculty and student project sections for more information on specific projects