Spatial Cognition, Spatial Perception
Mapping the Self and Space

An analysis of human and non-human animals' spatial cognitive, perceptual, and behavioural processes through mapping internal and external spatial knowledge.

Francine L. Dolins (Edited by), Robert W. Mitchell (Edited by)

9781107646230, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 July 2014

606 pages
23 x 15.4 x 3.5 cm, 1.84 kg

"A strength of this work, though, is its interdisciplinary focus. It approaches the topics from multiple theoretical orientations and methodologies. These include philosophy, history, evolution, anthropology, comparative psychology, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience. Investigators from each of these fields will find something of interest here. Spatial Cognition, Spatial Perception is worth getting and is a must read for any researcher in either of these areas. Due to its breadth of coverage, it serves more as a reference guide than as a single-themed or specialty area book, but any topic can be looked up in the index and compared across chapters if necessary."
Jay Friedenberg, PsycCRITIQUES

How does knowledge of the body in space relate to an understanding of space itself? Spatial cognition is discussed from two closely related perspectives: the internal mapping of external stimuli (e.g., landmarks and sensory perception of environmental information) and the internal mapping of internally perceived stimuli (e.g., kinesthetic and visual imagery), and their subsequent effects on behaviour. Clarification of what spatial information is present in most perceptual processes and how this is used cognitively in relation to the self in space is then established. Major points and controversies of the various models are discussed, along with evolutionary perspectives of spatial perception and object recognition and comparisons between human and non-human spatial cognitive abilities and behaviours. Written for postgraduate students and researchers, the authors present theoretical and experimental accounts at multiple levels of analysis - perceptual, behavioural and cognitive - providing a thorough review of the mechanisms of spatial cognition.

Introduction 1. Linking spatial cognition and spatial perception F. L. Dolins and R. W. Mitchell
Part I. What Do Animals Know and How Do They Represent External Space?: 2. Psychology and the philosophy of spatial perception: a history, or how the idea of spatial cognition in animals developed R. W. Mitchell and F. L. Dolins
3. Common principles shared by spatial and other kinds of cognition K. Cheng
4. To be buried in thought, lost in space or lost in action: is that the question? E. Menzel
Part II. Perception and Memory of Landmarks: Implications for Spatial Behaviour and Cognition: 5. The encoding of geometry in various vertebrate species C. Thinus-Blanc, V. Chabanne, L. Tommasi, P. Peruch and J. Vauclair
6. The visually guided routes of ants T. Collett and P. Graham
7. The role of landmarks in small and large scale navigation S. D. Healy and V. A. Braithwaite
8. Examining spatial cognitive strategies in small-scale and large-scale space in tamarin monkeys P. A. Garber and F. L. Dolins
9. Spatial learning and foraging in macaques C. Menzel
Part III. Evolutionary Perspectives of Cognitive Capacities in Spatial Perception and Object Recognition: 10. The evolution of human spatial cognition T. Wynn
11. Egocentric and allocentric spatial learning in the nonhuman primate L. Rehbein, S. Schettler, R. Killiany and M. Moss
12. Does the nature of cetacean perception make understanding object permanence unnecessary? R. W. Mitchell and E. Hoban
13. Multimodal sensory integration and concurrent navigation strategies for spatial cognition in real and artificial organisms A. Arleo and L. Ronde-Reig
Part IV. Does Mapping of the Body Generate Understanding of External Space?: 14. Movement: the generative source of spatial perception and cognition M. Sheets-Johnstone
15. Understanding the body: spatial perception and spatial cognition R. W. Mitchell
16. The evolution of parietal areas involved in hand use in primates L. Krubitzer and E. Disbrow
17. Body mapping and spatial transformations S. H. Creem-Regehr
18. Understanding of external space generated by bodily re-mapping: an insight from the neurophysiology of tool-using monkeys A. Iriki
19. Left-right spatial discrimination and the evolution of hemispheric specialization: some new thoughts on some old ideas W. D. Hopkins and C. Cantalupo
Part V. Comparisons of Human and Non-Human Primate Spatial Cognitive Abilities: 20. The geographical imagination R. Sambrook and D. Zurick
21. Of chimps and children: use of spatial symbols by two species J. DeLoache and M. Bloom
22. Chimpanzee spatial skills: a model for human performance on scale model tasks? S. Till Boysen and K. A. Bard
23. The development of place learning in comparative perspective A. Learmonth and N. Newcombe
24. Spatial cognition and memory in symbol-competent chimpanzees C. Menzel.

Subject Areas: Neurosciences [PSAN], Cognition & cognitive psychology [JMR]