Abstract
The aim of this paper is to review the applications of multidimensional scaling (MDS) to the studies of behavioral geography focusing on the spatial analysis of cognitive maps. Although various studies have applied MDS to the spatial cognition or environmental evaluation in other fields, a notable feature of geographic approach lies in the emphasis on careful scrutiny of the spatial patterns and their relationship with geographic environments. Accordingly, methods of spatial analysis for comparing the configurations obtained by MDS with actual maps and aggregating individual data have been developed. This comprises bidimensional regression and standard deviational ellipse. However, several problems remained in the previous studies: methods for analyzing asymmetric nature of cognitive distances, dimensionality of cognitive maps, and hierarchical structure of the spatial knowledge.
