Color in Mental Maps and Geoconcepts of China

Konstantin I. Belousov; Czin&#039;chzhi Duan&#039;; Natal&#039;ya Zelyanskaya

doi:10.21603/2782-4799-2025-4-1-1-12

VAK Russia

5.12.3

COLOR IN MENTAL MAPS AND GEOCONCEPTS OF CHINA Color in Mental Maps and Geoconcepts of China

АА Аа

Published in Virtual Communication and Social Networks · Pages 1–12 · Rubric: Communication Studies and Cognitive Sciences

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21603/2782-4799-2025-4-1-1-12 · EDN: VEKMHY

Received: 06.03.2025 Accepted: 28.03.2025 Published: 11.04.2025 Language of publication: ENG

Authors

Konstantin I. Belousov

ORCID Scopus SPIN

Czin'chzhi Duan'

Natal'ya Zelyanskaya

Konstantin I. Belousov

Academic degree: doctor of philological sciences

Belarusian State University of Foreign Languages Belarus · Minsk

Permskiy gosudarstvennyy nacional'nyy issledovatel'skiy universitet Russian Federation

ORCID Scopus SPIN

Czin'chzhi Duan'

Perm State University Russian Federation · Perm

Natal'ya Zelyanskaya

Permskiy gosudarstvennyy nacional'nyy issledovatel'skiy universitet Russian Federation

ABSTRACT

This paper is devoted to the study of the role of color in the objectification of mental representations of geographic space in the mental map form. It also examines the influence of color tradition associated with a geo-object on the structural-semantic organization of its geoconcept. The relevance of this research is due, on the one hand, to the contemporary cognitive scientific interest in mental space representations, and, on the other, to the investigation of the functions of sensory information in the organization and objectification of these representations. The research methodology involves a multi-stage process, including: (a) the collection of digital mental maps, carried out with the web application "Creative Map Studio"; (b) the preprocessing analysis and visualization of respondents’ color associations using Python and its libraries; (c) the semantic analysis of the textual layer of mental maps and the construction of graph-semantic models of geoconcepts. The study is based on 247 mental maps of China collected in 2019–2024 in Chinese universities. With the new empirical material, the paper statistically confirms the structure-forming functions of color in the organization of geo-mental representations of space, revealing a statistically significant relationship between the number of used color shades and the volume structural information in the mental maps. In addition, the study supports the hypothesis that color has a natural clustering function in the structural-semantic organization of geoconcepts (as exemplified by the geoconcept of Shanghai).

KEYWORDS

mental map, geoconcept, geo-object colorimetry, semantic field, graph-semantics, clustering

1. Aram F., Solgi E., Higueras García E., Mohammadzadeh S. D., Mosavi A., Shamshirband S. Design and validation of a computational program for analysing mental maps: Aram mental map analyzer. Sustainability, 2019, 11(14). https://doi.org/10.3390/su11143790

2. Bláha J. D., Štěrba Z. Colour contrast in cartographic works using the principles of Johannes Itten. The Cartographic Journal, 2014, 51(3): 203–213. https://doi.org/10.1179/1743277414Y.0000000084

3. Bramão I., Faísca L., Forkstam C., Reis A., Petersson K. M. Cortical brain regions associated with color processing: An FMRI study. The Open Neuroimaging Journal, 2010, 4: 164–173. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874440001004010164

4. Chumakov R. V., Ryabinin K. V., Belousov K. I., Duan J. Creative map studio: A platform for visual analytics of mental maps. Scientific Visualization, 2021, 13(2): 79–93. https://doi.org/10.26583/sv.13.2.06

5. Fritch H. A., Thakral P. P., Slotnick S. D., Ross R. S. Distinct patterns of hippocampal activity associated with color and spatial source memory. Hippocampus, 2021, 31(9): 1039–1047. https://doi.org/10.1002/hipo.23368

6. Furbee N. L., Maynard K., Smith J. J., Benfer R. A., Quick S., Ross L. The emergence of color cognition from color perception. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 1996, 6(2): 223–240. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/43103173 (accessed 10 Feb 2025).

7. Hafting T., Fyhn M., Molden S., Moser M.-B., Moser E. I. Microstructure of a spatial map in the entorhinal cortex. Nature, 2005, 436: 801–806. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03721

8. Hao G. The aesthetics of color in China: From lotus bud to jasper of the celestial waters. Moscow: MIF, 2024, 360. (In Russ.)

9. Jinzhzhi D., Zelianskaia N. L. Digital measurement of "Naive" geography and the modeling of geoconcepts. Cognitive Studies of Language, 2022, (3): 558–562. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/pbghyg

10. Kalutskov V. N. Three foundations of geographic onomastics: Toponym – place name – geoconcept. Socio- i psiholingvisticheskie issledovanija, 2015, (3): 7–13. (In Russ.) . https://elibrary.ru/vlfgeh

11. King T. D. Human color perception, cognition, and culture: why red is always red. Processing, Hardcopy, and Applications, 2005, 5667: 234–242. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.597146

12. Lambiotte R., Delvenne J.-C., Barahona M. Laplacian dynamics and multiscale modular structure in networks. IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering, 2015, 1(2): 76–90. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.0812.1770

13. Meng P. Language and culture comparative study of three primary colors in English and Chinese idioms and usual expressions from the perspective of metaphorical cognition. Proceedings of the 2021 International Conference on Education, Language and Art (ICELA 2021): Proc. Conf. Amsterdam: Atlantis Press SARL, 2022, 241–245. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.220131.044

14. Moore C., Romney A. K., Hsia T.-L. Cultural, gender, and individual differences in perceptual and semantic structures of basic colors in Chinese and English. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 2002, 2(1): 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1163/156853702753693280

15. Muramatsu S. Demon city / Magic city. North Charleston: Independently published, 2023, 102.

16. Niem T. H., Sean T. D. Digital sketch-map drawing as an instrument to collect data about spatial cognition. Cartographica, 2007, 42(4): 285–296. https://doi.org/10.3138/carto.42.4.285

17. Saarinen T. F. Centering of mental maps of the world. National Geographic Research, 1988, 4(1): 112–127.

18. Saarinen T. F., MacCabe C. The world image of Germany. Erdkunde, 1990, 44(4): 260–267. https://doi.org/10.3112/erdkunde.1990.04.02

19. Schwering A., Wang J., Chipofya M., Jan S., Li R., Broelemann K. SketchMapia: Qualitative representations for the alignment of sketch and metric maps. Spatial Cognition & Computation, 2014, 14(3): 220–254. https://doi.org/10.1080/13875868.2014.917378

20. Wichmann F. A., Sharpe L. T., Gegenfurtner K. R. The contributions of color to recognition memory for natural scenes. Journal of Experimental. Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 2002, 28(3): 509–520. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.28.3.509

21. Zelianskaia N. L., Belousov K. I., Galinskaia T. N., Ichkineeva D. A. Naive geography: Geoconceptology and topology of geomental maps. Heliyon, 2020, 6(12). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05644

22. Zelianskaia N., Belousov K., Ichkineeva D. Naive geography and geopolitical semiotics: The semiotic analysis of geomental maps of Russians. Semiotica, 2017, 2017(215): 235–253. https://doi.org/10.1515/sem-2016-0231

23. Zhang C., Golovnya A. I. Representation of the color designation system in the Chinese language. Karpov scientific readings: Proc. Conf., Minsk, 14–15 Mar 2014. Minsk: Belorusskij Dom pechati, 2014, iss. 8, pt. 2, 135–138. (In Russ.)

This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

JATS XML

Editor-in-Chief

Nikolay D. Golev

ngolevd@mail.ru

Vice Editor-in-Chief

Lidiya G. Kim

kimli09@mail.ru

This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Creative Commons

GOST

Belousov K. I., Duan' C., Zelyanskaya N. L. Color in Mental Maps and Geoconcepts of China // . 2025. pp. 1-12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21603/2782-4799-2025-4-1-1-12. EDN: VEKMHY. (Date of access 19.08.2026).

MLA

Konstantin I. Belousov, Duan' C., Zelyanskaya N. L.. "Color in Mental Maps and Geoconcepts of China." (2025): 1-12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21603/2782-4799-2025-4-1-1-12. EDN: VEKMHY.

APA

Belousov K. I., Duan' C., Zelyanskaya N. L. (2025). Color in Mental Maps and Geoconcepts of China. , 1-12. https://doi.org/10.21603/2782-4799-2025-4-1-1-12 EDN: VEKMHY.

Chicago

Konstantin I. Belousov, Duan' C., Zelyanskaya N. L.. "Color in Mental Maps and Geoconcepts of China." , no. (2025): 1-12. https://doi.org/10.21603/2782-4799-2025-4-1-1-12. EDN: VEKMHY.

WIKI

{{cite journal | author = Belousov K. I., Duan' C., Zelyanskaya N. L. | title = Color in Mental Maps and Geoconcepts of China | journal = | year = 2025 | pages = 1-12 | doi = 10.21603/2782-4799-2025-4-1-1-12 }} EDN: VEKMHY

Copy

Export: BibTeX EndNote RefMan RusMARC

COLOR IN MENTAL MAPS AND GEOCONCEPTS OF CHINA Color in Mental Maps and Geoconcepts of China

Confirmation