Abstract

The present study investigated the occurrence of route, survey, and visual features in the descriptions of open environments in function of the complexity of the environments and of gender differences. Seventy-nine secondary school students (46 males, 33 females; age range: 17-19) were required to give written descriptions of two complex and two simple urban areas. First hypothesis was that the complexity of the environment influenced the perspective of the descriptions. Second hypothesis was that males preferred to assume a survey perspective. Results show the simple environments were mainly represented from a survey perspective. Individual differences did not result to be influenced by the gender of descriptors.