Edward H. Cornell, PhD
Professor Emeritus
ecornell@ualberta.ca
My research investigates way finding by children and adults in natural environments. Several topics are useful for understanding lost person behavior, as indicated by the headings below.
I collaborated with Professor C. Donald Heth. Our research was sponsored by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, through the National Secretariat for Search and Rescue.
I remain active in field practice and research in search and rescue through the Sheriff's office in Klickitat County, Washington, USA.
Representative Publications
Current links to published articles are revealed by copying the title to your browser.
Processes of Human Way Finding
Cornell, E H & Heth, C D. (2004). Memories of travel: Dead reckoning within the cognitive map. In G. Allen (Ed.) Human spatial memory: Remembering where (pp. 191-215). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Cornell, E H, Sorenson, A & Mio, T (2003). Human sense of direction and way finding. Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 93, 402-428.
Heth, C.D., Cornell, E.H. (2002). Sense of direction and route reversal performance. Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology, 16, 309-324.
Cornell, E. H. & Heth, C.D. (2000). Route learning and way finding. In R. Kitchin & S. Freundshuh (Eds.), Cognitive Mapping: Past, present and future. (pp. 66-83). London: Routledge.
Cornell, E.H., Heth, C.D., & Skoczylas, M.J. (1999). The nature and use of route expectancies following incidental learning. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 19, 209-229.
Heth, C.D., & Cornell, E.H. (1998). Characteristics of travel by persons lost in Albertan wilderness areas. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 18, 223-235.
Heth, C.D., Cornell, E.H., & Alberts, D.M. (1997). Differential use of landmarks by 8- and 12-year-old children during route reversal navigation. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 17, 199-213.
Cornell, E H, Heth, C D & Alberts, D M (1994). Place recognition and way finding by children and adults. Memory & Cognition,22, 537-542.
Cornell, E.H., Heth, C.D., & Rowat, W.L. (1992). Way finding by children and adults. Response to instructions to use look-back and retrace strategies. Developmental Psychology, 28, 328-336.
Cornell, E.H., Heth, C.D., & Broda, L.S. (1989). Children's way finding: Response to instructions to use environmental landmarks. Developmental Psychology, 25, 755-764.
Cornell, EH & Heth, CD. (2006) Home range and the development of children's wayfinding. In R. Kail (Ed.), Advances in Child Development and Behavior, Vol. 34, 173-206. New York: Elsevier.
Cornell, EH, Hadley, DC, Sterling TM, Chan, MA, & Boechler, P. (2001). Adventure as a stimulus for cognitive development. Journal of Environmental Psychology 21, 219-231.
Cornell, E.H., & Heth, C.D. (1996). Distance travelled during urban and suburban walks led by 3- to 13-year-olds: Tables for search managers. Response. The Journal of the National Association for Search and Rescue, 15, 6-9. Reprinted in K. Hill (Ed.) (1997), Lost person behavior. Ottawa, ON: Search and Rescue Secretariat.
Perception of Turning and Veer
Cornell, E. H. & Bourassa, C. M. (2007). Human non visual discrimination of gradual turning is poor. Psychological Research/Psychologische Forschung, 71, 314-321.
Cornell, E.H. & Greidanus, E. (2006). Path integration during a neighborhood walk. Spatial Cognition and Computation, 6, 203-234.
Heth, C. D. & Cornell, E. H. (2006). A geographic information system for managing search for lost persons. In G. Allen (Ed.), Applied spatial cognition: From research to cognitive technology (pp. 267-284). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Cornell, E. H. & Hill, K. (2006). The problem of lost children. In C. Spencer & M. Blades (Eds.), Children and their environments: Learning, using, and designing spaces (pp. 26-41). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Cornell, E.H., Heth, C.D., Kneubuhler, Y., & Sehgal, S.S. (1996). Serial position effects in children's route reversal errors. Implications for police search operations. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 10, 1-26.
Cornell, E.H., Heth, C.D., Report of a missing child. In K. Hill (Ed.) Lost person behavior (pp. 31-44). Ottawa, Ontario: The National Search and Rescue Secretariat.