Spatial Representation: Problems in Philosophy and Psychology

Do the extraordinary navigational abilities of birds mean that these birds have the same kind of grip on the idea of a spatial world as we do? Is there a difference between the way sighted and blind subjects represent the world "out there"? Does the study of brain-injured subjects, such as "blind seers", tell us anything about the workings of normal spatial consciousness? This book brings together original papers by leading philosophers and psychologists working on questions in spatial representation. A central unifying theme is that progress with understanding the way we represent the external world requires drawing on the resources of both philosophical and psychological approaches to these issues. The papers are arranged by topics into five sections, each of which reflects a central area of research into spatial cognition. The five sections are: Frames of Reference; Intuitive Physics; Spatial Representation in the Modalities; Spatial Action; "What" and "Where". The book also contains a general introduction and five short introductory essays by the editors, designed to facilitate cross-disciplinary reading of the papers.

Table of Contents:
I Frames of Reference . 1. Organization of Spatial Knowledge in Children (Herbert L. Pick, Jr.) (Professor of child psychology, University of Minnesota) 2. Kant and the sea-horse: The hippcampus as a spatial synthetic a priori John O'Keefe (Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London.) 3. The role of physical objects in spatial thinking (John Campbell) (Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy, New College, Oxford) II Intuitive Physics . 1. Extrapolating and remembering positions along cognitive trajectories: Uses and limitations of analogies to physical motion (Elizabeth S. Spelke and Gretchen A. van de Walle) (Professor, Cornell University, and graduate student Cornell University.) 3. Intuitive mechanics, psychological reality and the idea of a material object (Christopher Peacocke) (Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy, University of Oxford) III Spatial Representation in the Sensory Modalities . 1. Spatial and nonspatial avenues to object recognition by the human haptic system (Roberta L. Klatzky and Susan J. Lederman) (Professor of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Professor of Psychology and Computing and Information Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada.) 2. Sense modalities and spatial properties (Michael Martin) (Lecturer in Philosophy, University College, London) 3. Molyneux's babies: cross-modal perception, imitation and the mind of the preverbal infant (Andrew N. Meltzoff) (Professor of Psychology, University College, London). 4. Spatial perception in the modalities and the idea of an external world (Naomi Eilan) 5. Perceptual content and Fregean myth (Ruth Garrett Millikan) (Professor of Philosophy, University of Connecticut.) IV Action . 1. Actions and responses: The dual psychology of behaviour (Anthony Dickinson and Bernard Balleine) (University Lecturer, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, and Research Fellow, Jesus College, Cambridge). 2. The Integration of spatial vision and action (Bill Brewer) V What and Where . 1. Development of What and Where systems for spatial representation in human infants (Jannette Atkinson) (Member of the Medical Research Council's Senior Scientific Staff, University of Cambridge.) 2. Computing where and what in the visual system (Oliver Braddick) (Reader, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge) 3. Image indeterminacy: the picture theory of images and the bifurcation of 'what' and 'where' information in higher level vision (Michael Tye) (Professor of Philosophy, Temple University and King's College, London). 4. Assembling routines and addressing representations: an alternative conceptualisation of what and where in the human brain (Rosaleen McCarthy).