Mental Representations of Hypermedia: An Evaluation of the Spatial Assumption

Abstract

This study attempts to clarify some ambiguities in the literature that deal with users' mental representations of hypermedia. It is frequently assumed that users form a spatial representation (cognitive map) of the website while navigating hypermedia. However, it is not clear how cognitive maps can be acquired from hypermedia, which is inherently non-spatial. Unfortunately, there has been little research addressing this assumption. Toward that end, the current study examined the cognitive maps acquired while using hypermedia by systematically varying the depth of a website and holding the information constant. Analyses of 40 participants' drawings of the hypermedia's structure indicate that drawings largely reflected a conceptual (i.e., semantic) structure, and not a connection-structure. In light of the current research, it is suggested that we 1) reevaluate the conjecture that hypermedia is mentally represented in ways similar to the physical world and 2) place more emphasis on other aspects of hypermedia from which users form mental representations.