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

这项行动资助田纳西大学的Gengen Friday He于2013年夏天在日本千叶县柏和的东京大学进行社会、行为和经济科学领域的研究项目。 该项目的标题是“调查在文化上不熟悉的设置协作同时寻路。“主持人是石川彻博士。在一个文化日益多样化、空间日益复杂的世界里，人们对城市的文化景观对人们导航方式的影响，或者在导航过程中传达什么类型的空间信息，知之甚少。 本项目旨在研究在日本城市中，外国人和当地居民如何在积极的同时合作寻路过程中获取，解释，处理和交流空间信息。 这是一个新颖的实验设置，结合了认知行为空间科学与地理信息科学，以了解人，环境和技术之间的相互作用。 本研究重新审视并综合了认知心理学、空间信息获取过程、地标识别、主动导航和通信等理论。 此外，本研究可以为在日本的外国人设计更好的导航辅助工具做出实际贡献，并有助于为美国的移民和游客创造更多的导航友好城市。 EAPSI奖学金的更广泛的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;以及社会，文化和语言的方向。 这些活动符合NSF的目标，即在科学家，工程师和教育工作者的职业生涯早期进行国际合作教育，从而确保具有全球意识的美国科学工作者。 本研究的结果有助于加深对人类认知过程的理解。 这项研究也有可能为日本开发更好的导航辅助设备做出实际贡献。 最终，这也可以导致为美国的外国人和移民设计更多的导航友好城市。

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.