Spatial cognition

Applying ISO-Space to Healthcare Facility Design Evaluation Reports

by Leon Derczynski

This paper describes preliminary work on the spatial annotation of textual reports about healthcare facility design to... more This paper describes preliminary work on the spatial annotation of textual reports about healthcare facility design to support the long-term goal linking of report content to a three-dimensional building model. Emerging semantic annotation standards enable formal description of multiple types of discourse information. In this instance, we investigate the application of a spatial semantic annotation standard at the building-interior level, where most prior applications have been at inter-city or street level. Working with a small corpus of design evaluation documents, we have begun to apply the ISO-Space specification to annotate spatial information in healthcare facility design evaluation reports. These reports present an opportunity to explore semantic annotation of spatial language in a novel situation. We describe our application scenario, report on the sorts of spatial language found in design evaluation reports, discuss issues arising when applying ISO-Space to building-level entities and propose possible extensions to ISO-Space to address the issues encountered.

Mighty metaphors: Behavioral and ERP evidence that power shifts attention on a vertical dimension.

by Diane Pecher

Zanolie, K., Van Dantzig, S., Boot, I., Wijnen, J., Schubert, T. W, Giessner, S., & Pecher, D. (2012). Mighty metaphors: Behavioral and ERP evidence that power shifts attention on a vertical dimension. Brain and Cognition, 78, 50-58.

Thinking about the abstract concept power may automatically activate the spatial up-down image schema (powerful up;... more Thinking about the abstract concept power may automatically activate the spatial up-down image schema (powerful up; powerless down) and consequently direct spatial attention to the image schema-congruent location. Participants indicated whether a word represented a powerful or powerless person (e.g ‘king’ or ‘servant’). Following each decision, they identified a target at the top or bottom of the visual field. In Experiment 1 participants identified the target faster when their spatial position was congruent with the perceived power of the preceding word than when it was incongruent. In Experiment 2 ERPs showed a higher N1 amplitude for congruent spatial positions. These results support the view that attention is driven to the image schema congruent location of a power word. Thus, power is partially understood in terms of vertical space, which demonstrates that abstract concepts are grounded in sensory-motor processing.

Spatial attention is driven by mental simulations.

by Diane Pecher

Van Dantzig, S. & Pecher, D. (2011). Spatial attention is driven by mental simulations. Frontiers in Cognition, 2:121.

Congruency between word position and meaning is caused by task induced spatial attention.

by Diane Pecher

Pecher, D., van Dantzig, S. Boot, I., Zanolie, K., & Huber, D. E. (2010). Congruency between word position and meaning is caused by task induced spatial attention. Frontiers in Cognition, 1:30.

Smith, AJT 2010 Comment: Minimal conditions for the simplest form of self-consciousness

by Adrian Alsmith

Commentary on http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2008.10.003
Published in The embodied self: Dimensions, coherence, disorders (pp. 35 – 41). Stuttgart: Schattauer

Vogler R, Hennig S, Jekel T & Donert K (2012), Towards a concept of Spatially Enabled Learning, Learning with GeoInformation, Berlin, Wichman Verlag

by Karl Donert

Communication and information exchange is increasingly web2.0 mediated, networked and complex. The use and integration... more Communication and information exchange is increasingly web2.0 mediated, networked and complex. The use and integration of a spatial reference to information, i.e. geomedia, has been gaining importance. As a consequence, these changes and the potential of spatial representations to contextualize learning content account for an increasing relevance of geomedia in education. Based on these devlopments a concept of Spatially Enabled Learning makes use of web-based mapping to support interaction and communication in educational contexts via social geocommunication. It links social media with individual spatial representations. The purpose is to make learners capable to be ‘produsers’ (producer-users) of information with a spatial reference. This is supposed to be helpful in education and everyday life with regard to spatial citizenship, i.e. reflective and participatory practice. The idea of spatially enabled learning focuses on the vision to enhance both learning and teaching
processes, as well as to contribute to a more global understanding through linking learning processes with spatial representations.
This contribution discusses two main topics: a) the role of space and spatial representations in everyday life and in learning processes, and b) conceptual tools needed for that. The concept of social geocommunication mirrors the shift from stand-alone web mapping applications to collaborative web mapping applications and finally towards social web mapping
applications. In this context there is a variety of recent tools that already cover the prerequisites of spatially enabled learning. This paper provides a rudimentary conceptual framework
to integrate existing tools and learning.

Up north and down south: Implicit associations between topography and cardinal direction

by Stephanie Gagnon

Brunyé, T. T., Gagnon, S. A., Waller, D., Hodgson, E., Tower-Richardi, S., & Taylor, H. A. (in press). Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Route planners show a reliable tendency to select south- relative to north-going routes between two horizontally... more Route planners show a reliable tendency to select south- relative to north-going routes between two horizontally (east/west) aligned landmarks, suggesting the application of a north-is-up heuristic (Brunyé, Mahoney, Gardony, & Taylor, 2010). The source of this north-is-up bias remains unknown, and there is no strong evidence to suggest that it is due to explicit strategy use. In four experiments, we attempt to further elucidate the source of this effect by testing whether it can be attributed to implicit associations between cardinal direction (north/south) and topography (mountainous/level terrain). Experiments 1 and 2 used an adapted Implicit Association Test and demonstrate automatically activated judgements that associate north with mountainous and south with relatively level terrain. Experiment 3 rules out the possibility that this effect is due to the local topography of New England by replicating in participants from the topographically dissimilar Midwestern United States. Finally, Experiment 4 tests the relative contribution of implicit versus explicit associations between cardinal direction and topography in predicting route-planning asymmetries; we show that implicit associations are a stronger predictor of southern route biases than explicit processes. Overall, results demonstrate that the conceptualization of space can be driven by physically unfounded implicit associations between cardinal directions and topographical features, and these associations are at least partially responsible for southern route preferences.

Dragonfly: An Ecological Approach to Digital Architectural Design

by Michael J. Braund

Published in ACADIA 2011: Integration Through Computation, ed. by J.M. Taron, V. Parlac, B. Kolarevic and J.S. Johnson, pp.178-186. Stroughton, WI: The Printing House, 2011.

(Co-authored with Daniel Hambleton)

In his keynote address delivered to The American Society for Esthetics in 1976, James J. Gibson wrote, “Architecture... more In his keynote address delivered to The American Society for Esthetics in 1976, James J. Gibson wrote, “Architecture and design do not have a satisfactory theoretical basis.” He then asked, “Can an ecological approach to the psychology of perception and behavior provide it?” (1976, p. 413) We believe that it can, at least in part. In this paper, we expand upon Gibson’s insights into the nature of perceptual experience by applying the concept of “affordances” to the design of architectural objects in general, and to the domain of digital architectural design in particular. On our account, the affordance-concept supplies a useful theoretical basis for conceptualizing the relationship between environments and occupants with respect to the form and behavioral meaning of geometrically constructed layouts.

Donald Norman (1988) first introduced affordances to interaction design theorists, as a conceptual tool for predicting how agents will interact with a given product. The extensive body of literature that has since emerged, from human-computer-interaction studies (Ackerman, 1996; Conn, 1995; Moran, 1997; Norman, 1999) to architectural theory and practice (Koutamanis, 2006; Maier and Fadel, 2009), has followed Norman’s lead in defining affordances, somewhat amorphously, as whichever action-related properties of objects are sufficient to elicit the intended forms of behavioral interaction between the agent and object. However, while this is correct, it is only half the story. It leaves unexplained how human perceivers detect and “pair down” on the potentially vast range of possible affordances (at a given time), to select the ones that will be relevant to the coordination and guidance of the targeted actions. Call this the “selectivity problem,” a proper treatment of which is missing from the literature. This is no small matter. If the theory of affordances is to be useful to architects and designers, if it is to have explanatory and predictive power over how perceivers will interact with their surroundings, then some account of the cognitive procedure by which affordances are selected for the deployment of specific behaviors is necessary. Otherwise, it is unclear what the theory hopes to predict or explain.

To this end, we maintain that the couching of affordances in a framework of human intentionality is not only consistent with Gibson’s theoretical views (i.e., the action-oriented definition of the concept of affordances not only suggests an intentional perspective), indeed, such a perspective is necessary if we are to succeed in implementing the affordance-concept into an architectural design context in a way that addresses the selectivity problem. This is one of the goals of “Dragonfly,” a first attempt at implementing the affordance-based control of perceptually guided-action into a digital design simulation. Dragonfly enables human interaction with geometry by encoding the basic principles of ecological psychology (including a rudimentary form of intentionality) into an interactive CAD environment. New vistas for future research and interdisciplinary approaches to design are then discussed, with a special emphasis on their applicability to architecture.

A review of haptic spatial abilities in the blind

by Allison Connell Pensky

The Spanish loanword lado in Otomi spatial descriptions

by Néstor Hernández-Green

Can spatial training improve long-term outcomes for gifted STEM undergraduates?

by David Miller

Co-authored with Diane Halpern. Published in Learning and Individual Differences.

This one-year longitudinal study investigated the benefits of spatial training among highly gifted science,... more This one-year longitudinal study investigated the benefits of spatial training among highly gifted science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) undergraduates (28 female, 49 male). Compared to a randomized control condition, 12 h of spatial training (1) improved the skills to mentally rotate and visualize cross-sections of 3-D objects shortly after training, (2) narrowed gender differences in spatial skills shortly after training, and (3) improved examination scores in introductory physics (d=.38) but not for other STEM courses. After eight months, however, there were no training differences for spatial skills, STEM course grades, physics self-efficacy, or declared majors. Large gender differences, favoring males, persisted for some spatial skills, physics grades, and physics self-efficacy eight months after training. These results suggest that sustained exposure to spatially enriching activities over several semesters or years may be necessary to address gender gaps in spatial skills among highly gifted STEM undergraduates.

The effects of familiarity and gender on spatial representation

by Francesco Ruotolo

Iachini, T., Ruotolo, F., & Ruggiero, G. (2009). The effects of familiarity and gender on spatial representation. Journal of Environmental Psychology,
Volume 29, Issue 2, pp. 227-234

This paper reports a study of how familiarity and gender may influence the frames of reference used in memory to... more This paper reports a study of how familiarity and gender may influence the frames of reference used in memory to represent a real-world regularly shaped environment. Familiar and unfamiliar participants learned the locations of three triads of buildings by walking on a path which encircled each triad. Then they were shown with maps reproducing these triads at five different orientations (from 0° to 180°) and had to judge whether each triad represented correctly the relative positions between the buildings. Results showed that unfamiliar participants performed better when the orientation of triads was closer to the learning perspective (0° and 45°) and corresponded to front rather than to back positions. Instead, familiar participants showed a facilitation for triads oriented along orthogonal axes (0°–180°, 90°) and no difference between front and back positions. These findings suggested that locations of unfamiliar buildings were mentally represented in terms of egocentric frames of reference; instead, allocentric frames of reference defined by the environment were used when the environment was familiar. Finally, males were more accurate and faster than females, and this difference was particularly evident in participants unfamiliar with the environment.

Categorical and coordinate spatial relations: fMRI evidence for hemispheric specialization

by Nathalie Bedoin

The reference is:
Baciu, M., Koenig, O., Vernier, M.-P., Bedoin N., Rubin, C., & Segebarth, C. (1999). Categorical and coordinate spatial relations: fMRI evidence for hemispheric specialization. Neuroreport, 10(6), 1373-1378.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was
applied to determine the involvement of the angular
gyri in... more Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was
applied to determine the involvement of the angular
gyri in the processing of categorical and coordinate
spatial relations. In a categorical task, subjects were
asked to judge whether a dot was presented above or
below a horizontal line. In a coordinate task, they were
asked to judge whether or not the distance between the
dot and the bar was within a reference distance. Results
showed stronger activation of the left than of the right
angular gyrus in the categorical task, and stronger
activation, initially, of the right than of the left angular
gyrus in the coordinate task. In addition, in the latter
task, the involvement of the right angular gyrus decreased
with practice while that of the left angular
gyrus increased. These results are interpreted in terms
of the development of new categorical representations
with practice in the coordinate task. NeuroReport
10:1373±1378 # 1999 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Categorical and coordinate spatial relations: fMRI evidence for hemispheric specialization

by Nathalie Bedoin

The reference is:
Baciu, M., Koenig, O., Vernier, M.-P., Bedoin N., Rubin, C., & Segebarth, C. (1999). Categorical and coordinate spatial relations: fMRI evidence for hemispheric specialization. Neuroreport, 10(6), 1373-1378.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was
applied to determine the involvement of the angular
gyri in... more Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was
applied to determine the involvement of the angular
gyri in the processing of categorical and coordinate
spatial relations. In a categorical task, subjects were
asked to judge whether a dot was presented above or
below a horizontal line. In a coordinate task, they were
asked to judge whether or not the distance between the
dot and the bar was within a reference distance. Results
showed stronger activation of the left than of the right
angular gyrus in the categorical task, and stronger
activation, initially, of the right than of the left angular
gyrus in the coordinate task. In addition, in the latter
task, the involvement of the right angular gyrus decreased
with practice while that of the left angular
gyrus increased. These results are interpreted in terms
of the development of new categorical representations
with practice in the coordinate task. NeuroReport
10:1373±1378 # 1999 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Categorical and coordinate spatial relations: fMRI evidence for hemispheric specialization

by Nathalie Bedoin

The reference is:
Baciu, M., Koenig, O., Vernier, M.-P., Bedoin N., Rubin, C., & Segebarth, C. (1999). Categorical and coordinate spatial relations: fMRI evidence for hemispheric specialization. Neuroreport, 10(6), 1373-1378.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was
applied to determine the involvement of the angular
gyri in... more Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was
applied to determine the involvement of the angular
gyri in the processing of categorical and coordinate
spatial relations. In a categorical task, subjects were
asked to judge whether a dot was presented above or
below a horizontal line. In a coordinate task, they were
asked to judge whether or not the distance between the
dot and the bar was within a reference distance. Results
showed stronger activation of the left than of the right
angular gyrus in the categorical task, and stronger
activation, initially, of the right than of the left angular
gyrus in the coordinate task. In addition, in the latter
task, the involvement of the right angular gyrus decreased
with practice while that of the left angular
gyrus increased. These results are interpreted in terms
of the development of new categorical representations
with practice in the coordinate task. NeuroReport
10:1373±1378 # 1999 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Lateralised visual attention is unrelated to language lateralisation, and not influenced by task difficulty-A functional transcranial Doppler study.

by Nicholas Badcock

Mentálne reprezentácie priestoru a ich súvislosť s priestorovým správaním človeka

by Katarína Böhmová

Bachelor thesis

One of the most frequent human activities is targeted moving, that has a condition of using mental capacity assigned... more One of the most frequent human activities is targeted moving, that has a condition of using mental capacity assigned to processing spatial perceptions – using of mental representations of space. In the work there are characteristics of cognitive maps and their connections to the frequency of using elaborated. Emanating from Gallistel, Lynch, Murakoshi & Kawai and Coshall there is hypothesis about more precise topological representation together with high using frequency testified. Second hypothesis of this work – the more frequent ways are represented as shorter – is testified on the part of respondents only. Hypotheses are testified / contradicted on the basis of interviews analyzing, observations, but sketch maps mostly – geometry (lengths, angles) and topology. In the discussion there are analyzed implications resulting from analysis: acquiring knowledge about geometry and topology of space and differences between acquiring them, mental representations relating to woman and mothers on maternity leave as a special category and at last reasoning of inaccurate right angle drawing by students.

Keywords: cognitive maps, mental representations of space, frequency of using ways, geometry, topology, lengths, angles, angles sizes, often, unusual, mothers, students, women, sketch maps, map analysis

Jednou z najčastejších činností človeka je cielený pohyb, ktorého podmienkou je používanie mentálnej kapacity určenej na spracovanie vnemov z priestoru – používanie mentálnych reprezentácií priestoru. Práca rozoberá vlastnosti kognitívnych máp a ich spojitosť s frekvenciou používania ciest. Vychádzajúc z Gallistela, Lyncha, Murakoshiho & Kawaia a Coshalla je v práci na základe analýzy dát terénneho výskumu potvrdená hypotéza o presnejšej topologickej reprezentácii pri vysokej frekvencii používania ciest. Druhá hypotéza tejto práce – častejšie používané cesty reprezentované ako kratšie – je potvrdená iba na časti respondentoch. Hypotézy sú potvrdené / vyvrátené na základe analýzy interview, pozorovaní, ale najmä analýzy náčrtových máp – geometrie (vzdialenosti, uhly) a topológie. V diskusii sú rozobraté implikácie plynúce z výsledkov analýzy: osvojovanie si geometrie a topológie priestoru a rozdiely medzi nimi, mentálne reprezentácie týkajúce sa žien a mamičiek na materskej dovolenke ako osobitnej kategórie a na poslednom mieste zdôvodnenie nepresného zakresľovania pravého uhla študentmi.

Kľúčové slová: kognitívne mapy, mentálne reprezentácie priestoru, frekvencia používania ciest, vzdialenosti, dĺžky, uhly, veľkosti uhlov, častejšie cesty, zriedkavejšie cesty, mamičky, študenti, ženy, náčrtové mapy, analýza máp

İLKÖĞRETİM ÖĞRENCİLERİNİN ÖNEMLİ YER ALGISI (ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ LANDMARK PERCEPTIONS)

by Adem Öcal

Co-authored with Recep Polat & Ayşen Altınok

Spatial language, visual attention, and perceptual simulation

by Dermot Lynott

Spatial language and cognition in French and in English: some evidence from eye-movements

by Eva Soroli