I am interested in how people perceive, represent and individually or collaboratively utilise information about their spatial environment and how this can be used to better design environments, assistance systems and mobility concepts. To find out I employ virtual environments, eye movement measurement, cognitive modelling and methods from usability and user experience.
I studied Psychology in Würzburg, completed a phD in Freiburg and conducted research at the Collège de France in Paris and the University of Tokyo. During my time as group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics I habilitated at the University of Tübingen. Currently, I am working at Bosch on future mobility.
Publications
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Journal articles
- Strickrodt, M., Meilinger, T., Bülthoff, H.H., & Warren, W.H. (submitted). Navigators learn a local graph, not a global map.
- de la Rosa, S., Meilinger, T., Streuber, S., Saulton, A., Fademrecht, L., Quiros-Ramirez, M. A., Bülthoff, H., Bülthoff, I., & Cañal-Bruland, R. (2020). Visual appearance modulates motor control in social interactions. Acta Psychologica, 210, 103168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103168
- Strickrodt, M., Bülthoff, H.H. & Meilinger, T. (2019). Memory for navigable space is flexible and not restricted to exclusive local or global memory units. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition, 45, 993-1013.
- Hinterecker, T., Leroy, C., Kirschhock, M.E., Zhao, M., Butz, M.V., Bülthoff, H.H. & Meilinger, T. (2019). Spatial memory for vertical locations. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition, 45, 1205-1223.
- König, S.U., Goeke, C., Meilinger, T. & König, P. (2019). Are allocentric spatial reference frames compatible with theories of Enactivism? Psychological Research, 83, 498-513. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2017/07/31/170316.full.pdf
- Hinterecker, T., Pretto, P., de Winkel, K.N., Karnath, H.-O., Bülthoff, H.H. & Meilinger, T. (2018). Body-relative horizontal–vertical anisotropy in human representations of traveled distances. Experimental Brain Research, 236, 2811-2827.
- Hinterecker, T., * Leroy, C., * Zhao, M., Butz, M., Bülthoff, H.H. & Meilinger, T. (2018). No Advantage for Remembering Horizontal over Vertical Spatial Locations Learned from a Single Viewpoint. Memory & Cognition, 46, 158-171. [*equal contributions]
- Weller, M., Takahashi, K., Watanabe, K., Bülthoff, H.H. & Meilinger, T. (2018). The object orientation effect in exocentric distances. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1374.
- Meilinger, T., Garsoffky, B. & Schwan, S. (2017). The catchup illusion: a perception-bias in relative target movements from a visually moving observer originating from altered between-target distance compression. Scientific Reports, 7, 17037.
- Claessen, M., Visser-Meily, J., Meilinger, T., Postma, A., de Rooij, N. & van der Ham, I. (2017). A systematic investigation of navigation impairment in chronic stroke patients: Evidence for three distinct types. Neurospychologia, 103, 154-161.
- Meilinger, T.,* Strickrodt, M.,* & Bülthoff, H.H. (2016). Qualitative differences between environmental and vista space memory are caused by the separation of space, not by movement or successive perception. Cognition, 155, 77–95. [*equal contributions]
- Meilinger, T., * Frankenstein, J., * Simon, N., Bülthoff, H.H., & Bresciani, J.-P. (2016). Not all memories are the same: situational context influences spatial recall within ones city of residency. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 23, 246-252. [*equal contributions]
- Meilinger, T. & Watanabe, K. (2016). Multiple strategies for spatial integration of 2D layouts in working memory. PLOS ONE, 11, e0154088.
- Jung, E., Takahashi, K., Watanabe, K, de la Rosa, S. Butz, M.V., Bülthoff, H.H. & Meilinger, T. (2016). The Influence of Human Body Orientation on Distance Judgments. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1-9.
- Meilinger, T., Schulte-Pelkum, J., Frankenstein, J., Hardiess, G. Mallot, H.A., Bülthoff, H.H. (2016). How to best name a place? Facilitation and inhibition of route learning due to descriptive and arbitrary location labels. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1-7.
- König, S.U., Schumann, F., Keyser, J., Goeke, C., Krause, C., Wache, S., Lytochkin, A., Ebert, M., Brunsch, V., Wahn, B., Kaspar, K., Nagel, S.K., Meilinger, T., Bülthoff, H.H., Wolbers, T., Büchel, C., & König, P. (2016) Learning New Sensorimotor Contingencies: Effects of Long-Term Use of Sensory Augmentation on the Brain and Conscious Perception. PLOS ONE, 11, 1-35.
- Meilinger, T., Frankenstein, J., Watanabe, K., Bülthoff, H.H., & Hölscher, C. (2015). Reference frames in learning from maps and navigation. Psychological Research, 79, 1000-1008.
- Meilinger, T., Frankenstein, J. & Bülthoff, H.H. (2014). When in doubt follow your nose – a wayfinding strategy. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1-7.
- Meilinger, T., Riecke, B.E., Bülthoff, H.H. (2014). Local and global reference frames for environmental spaces. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 67, 542-569.
- Meilinger, T., Frankenstein, J., Bülthoff, H.H. (2013). Learning to navigate: experience vs. maps. Cognition, 129, 24-30.
- Meilinger, T. & Bülthoff, H.H. (2013). Verbal shadowing and visual interference in spatial memory. PLOS ONE, 8, e74177.
- Takahashi, K..,* Meilinger, T.,* Watanabe, K., Bülthoff, H.H. (2013). Psychological influences on distance estimation in a virtual reality environment. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 1-7. [*equal contributions]
- Frankenstein, J., Mohler, B.J., Bülthoff, H.H. & Meilinger, T. (2012). Is the Map in Our Head is Oriented North? Psychological Science, 23, 120-125.
- Meilinger, T., Franz, G., & Bülthoff, H. H. (2012). From Isovists via Mental Representations to Behaviour: First Steps Toward Closing the Causal Chain. Environment and Planning B, 39, 48-62.
- Barnett-Cowan, M., Meilinger, T., Vidal, M., Teufel, H. & Bülthoff, H.H. (2012). MPI CyberMotion Simulator: Implementation of a novel motion simulator to investigate path integration in three dimensions. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 63, 1-6.
- Meilinger, T.,* Berthoz, A. & Wiener, J.M.* (2011). The integration of spatial information across different viewpoints. Memory & Cognition, 39, 1042-1054. [*equal contributions]
- van der Ham, I.J.M., van Zandvoort, M.J.E., Meilinger, T., Bosch, S.E., Kant, N. & Postma, A. (2010). Spatial and temporal aspects of navigation in two neurological patients. NeuroReport, 21, 685-689.
- Hölscher, C., Büchner, S. J., Meilinger, T., & Strube, G. (2009). Adaptivity of wayfinding strategies in a multi-building ensemble – the effects of spatial structure, task requirements and metric information. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 29, 208-219.
- Meilinger, T. & Knauff, M. (2008). Ask for your way or use a map: A field experiment on spatial orientation and wayfinding in an urban environment. Journal of Spatial Science, 53, 13-23.
- Meilinger, T., Knauff, M., & Bülthoff, H. H. (2008). Working memory in wayfinding – a dual task experiment in a virtual city. Cognitive Science, 32, 755-770.
- Hölscher, C., Meilinger, T., Vrachliotis, G., Brösamle, M., & Knauff, M. (2006). Up the down staircase: next term Wayfinding strategies in multi-level buildings. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 26, 284–299.
- Vollrath, M., Meilinger, T., & Krüger, H.-P. (2002). How the presence of passengers influences the risk of a collision with another vehicle. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 34, 649–654.
Book
- Meilinger, T. (2008). Strategies of Orientation in Environmental Spaces. Berlin: Logos Verlag.
Book chapters (peer review)
- Wiener, J.M. & Meilinger, T. (2018). Spatial Biases in Wayfinding and Navigation. In T. L. Hubbard (Ed.), Spatial Biases in Perception and Cognition (pp. 324-335). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Meilinger, T., Henson, A., Rebane, J., Bülthoff, H.H., Mallot, H.A. (2018). Humans construct survey estimates on the fly and do not rely on a unified representation of the navigated environment. In S. Creem-Regher, J. Schöning, A. Klippel (Eds.), Spatial Cognition XI, LNAI 11034 (pp. 15-26). Berlin: Springer.
- Meilinger, T., Strickrodt, M., & Bülthoff, H.H. (2018). Spatial survey estimation is incremental and relied on directed memory structures. In S. Creem-Regher, J. Schöning, A. Klippel (Eds.), Spatial Cognition XI, LNAI 11034 (pp. 27-42). Berlin: Springer.
- Hardiess, G., Meilinger, T., & Mallot, H.A. (2015). Virtual Reality and Spatial Cognition. In J.D. Wright (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Social & Behavioral Sciences (pp. 133-137). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
- Vosgerau, G. Knoll, A., Meilinger, T., & Vogeley, K. (2013). Representation. In A. Stephan, S. Walter (Eds.), Handbuch Kognitionswissenschaft (pp.386-401). Stuttgart: Metzler.
- Basten, K., Meilinger, T., & Mallot, H.A. (2012). Mental travel primes place orientation in spatial recall. In C. Stachniss, K. Schill, D.H. Uttal (Eds.), Spatial Cognition VIII, LNAI 7463 (pp. 378-385). Berlin: Springer.
- Meilinger, T. & Vosgerau, G. (2010). Putting Egocentric and Allocentric into Perspective. In C. Hölscher, C., T. F. Shipley, M. Olivetti Belardinelli, J. A. Bateman, N. S. Newcombe (Eds.), Spatial Cognition VII, LNAI 6222 (pp. 207-211). Berlin: Springer.
- Meilinger, T. (2008). The network of reference frames theory: A synthesis of graphs and cognitive maps. In C. Freksa, N.S. Newcombe, P. Gärdenfors & S. Wölfl (Eds.), Spatial Cognition VI, LNAI 5248 (pp. 344-360). Berlin: Springer.
- Meilinger, T., Hölscher, C., Büchner, S. J., & Brösamle, M. (2006). How Much Information Do You Need? Schematic Maps in Wayfinding and Self Localisation. In T. Barkowsky et al. (Eds.), Spatial Cognition V, LNAI 4387 (pp. 381–400). Berlin: Springer.
Conference paper (peer review)
- Hatzipanayioti, A., Pavlidou, A., Dixken, M., Bülthoff, H.H. & Meilinger, T., Bues, M., Mohler, B.J. (2019). Collaborative problem solving in local and remote VR situations. 26th IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces, VR 2019. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/VR.2019.8798201
- Meilinger, T., Schulte-Pelkum, J., Frankenstein, J., Berger, D. & Bülthoff, H.H. (2015). Global Landmarks Do Not Necessarily Improve Spatial Performance in Addition to Bodily Self-Movement Cues when Learning a Large-Scale Virtual Environment. International Conference on Artificial Reality and Telexistence. Eurographics Symposium on Virtual Environments.
- Henson, A., Mallot, H.A., Bülthoff, H.H. & Meilinger, T. (2011). When do we integrate spatial information acquired by walking through environmental spaces? 33rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2764-2769).
- Meilinger, T. & Bülthoff, H.H. (2010). The Direction Bias and the Incremental Construction of Survey Knowledge. 32nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2500-2505).
- Frankenstein, J., Meilinger, T., Mohler, B. J. & Bülthoff, H.H. (2009). Spatial memory for highly familiar environments. 31st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2650-2655).
- Bülthoff, H.H., Campos, J.L. & Meilinger, T. (2008). Virtual Reality as a Valuable Research Tool for Investigating Different Aspects of Spatial Cognition. International Conference Spatial Cognition 2008 (pp. 1-3).
- Wiener, J.*, Meilinger, T.*, & Berthoz, A. (2008). The integration of spatial information across different perspectives. 30th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2031-2036). [*equal contributions]
- Hölscher, C., Büchner, S. J., Brösamle, M., Meilinger, T., & Strube, G. (2007). Signs and Maps: Cognitive Economy in the Use of External Aids for Indoor Navigation. 29th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 377–382).
- Meilinger, T., Riecke, B. E., & Bülthoff, H. H. (2007). Orientation Specificity in Long-Term-Memory for Environmental Spaces. 29th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 479–484).
- Hölscher, C., Büchner, S. J., Meilinger, T., & Strube, G. (2006). Map Use and Wayfinding Strategies in a Multi-Building Ensemble. International Conference Spatial Cognition 2006 (pp. 365–380).
- Meilinger, T., Franz, G., & Bülthoff, H. H. (2006). From Isovists via Mental Representations to Behaviour: First Steps Toward Closing the Causal Chain. Space Syntax and Spatial Cognition Workshop (pp. 1–16).
- Meilinger, T., Knauff, M., & Bülthoff, H. H. (2006). Working memory in wayfinding – a dual task experiment in a virtual city. 28th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 585–590).
- Hölscher, C., Meilinger, T., Vrachliotis, G., & Knauff, M. (2005). The Floor Strategy: Wayfinding Cognition in a Multi-Level Building. 5th International Space Syntax Symposium.
- Vrachliotis, G., Hölscher, C., Meilinger, T. (2005). Building analysis from a spatial cognition perspective. 5th International Space Syntax Symposium.
- Meilinger, T. (2005). Wayfinding with Maps and Verbal Directions. 27th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1473–1478).
- Totzke, I., Meilinger, T., & Krüger, H.-P. (2005). Adaptivität und Adaptierbarkeit von menügesteuerten Informationssystemen – Kein Ansatz zur Lösung des Problems der Erlernbarkeit?!. In C. Urbas & C. Steffens (Eds.), Zustandserkennung und Systemgestaltung (pp. 35–40). Düsseldorf: VDI-Verlag.
- Hölscher, C., Meilinger, T., Vrachliotis, G., Brösamle, M., & Knauff, M. (2004). Finding the Way Inside: Linking Architectural Design Analysis and Cognitive Processes. International Conference Spatial Cognition 2004 (pp. 1–23). Berlin: Springer.
- Totzke, I., Meilinger, T., & Krüger, H.-P. (2003). Erlernbarkeit von Menüsystemen im Fahrzeug – mehr als "nur" eine Lernkurve. In Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (Eds.), Der Fahrer im 21. Jahrhundert, VDI Berichte 1768 (pp.171-195). Düsseldorf: VDI-Verlag. (best paper award).