The function, structure, form, and content of environmental knowledge

Although decades of research have illuminated the psychological mechanisms underlying spatial behavior, there is currently no comprehensive theory that contextualizes them or that provides a framework for integrating our understanding of the various aspects of an animal's knowledge of its environment. Here, we examine and elaborate on four dimensions that such a comprehensive framework must possess: the function, structure, form, and content of an organism's knowledge. Collectively, these dimensions address the why (function), how (structure and form), and what (content) questions of our knowledge of the environment. We illustrate these dimensions with empirical findings that may serve to constrain future theory, as well as highlight contentious, unresolved, or otherwise as yet unanswered questions in the field.