NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) for FY 2013 in Japan

这一行动为田纳西大学的GenGen He星期五提供了资金，他于2013年夏天在日本千叶县鹿儿湖的东京大学开展了一个社会科学、行为和经济学领域的研究项目。该项目的标题是“在文化陌生的环境中调查协作同时寻路”。主持会议的科学家是石川彻博士。在一个文化日益多样化、空间日益复杂的世界里，人们对一个城市的特定文化景观对人们导航方式的影响，或者导航过程中传达的空间信息类型知之甚少。该项目是调查外国人和当地居民如何获取、解释、处理和交流空间信息，同时在日本的一个城市进行主动协同寻路。这是一种新颖的实验装置，将认知行为空间科学与地理信息科学相结合，以了解人、环境和技术之间的相互作用。本研究重新审视和综合了认知心理学、空间信息获取过程、地标识别、主动导航和沟通方面的理论。此外，本研究可为在日本的外国人设计更好的导航辅助设施，以及为美国移民和游客创造更多的导航友好型城市做出实际贡献。EAPSI奖学金的更广泛影响包括为研究员提供美国以外的第一手研究经验；介绍各自所在地的科学、科学政策和科学基础设施；以及了解社会、文化和语言。这些活动符合NSF的目标，即在其科学家、工程师和教育工作者的职业生涯早期为国际合作进行教育，从而确保拥有一支具有全球意识的美国科学队伍。这项研究的结果可以加深对人类认知过程的理解。这项研究也有可能对日本开发更好的助航设备做出实际贡献。最终，这也可能导致为美国的外国人和移民设计更友好的导航城市。

This action funds Gengen Friday He of The University of Tennessee to conduct a research project in the Social, Behavioral and Economic sciences area, during the summer of 2013 at The University of Tokyo in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The project title is "Investigating Collaborative Simultaneous Wayfinding in a Culturally Unfamiliar Setting." The host scientist is Dr. Toru Ishikawa.In an increasingly more culturally diverse and spatially complex world, little is known about a city's cultural-specific-landscape effect on the way people navigate, or what types of spatial information are communicated during navigation. This project is investigating how foreigners and local residents acquire, interpret, process and communicate spatial information during active simultaneous collaborative wayfinding in a Japanese City. This is a novel experimental setup that combines cognitive behavioral spatial science with geographic information science to understand the interaction between people, environment and technology. This study re-examines and synthesizes theories in cognitive psychology, the spatial information acquisition process, landmark recognition, active navigation, and communication. Furthermore, this study can make a practical contribution to designing better navigation aids for foreigners in Japan and help to create more navigation friendly cities for immigrants and visitors in America. Broader impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce. The results from this study can add to the understanding of human cognitive process. This study also has the potential to make practical contributions to the development of better navigation aids in Japan. Ultimately, this can also lead to the design of more navigation friendly cities for foreigner and immigrants in America.