We present the results of a study of spatial cognition and its relationship to hypermedia navigation. The results show that a distinction can be made between two kinds of spatial cognition. One that concerns the concomitant acting in the physical world, and on that is a pure internal mental activity. This conclusion is supported by two kinds of data. First, a factor analysis of the subtests use...

This paper shows that the various computations underlying spatial cognition can be implemented using statistical inference in a single probabilistic model. Inference is implemented using a common set of 'lower-level' computations involving forward and backward inference over time. For example, to estimate where you are in a known environment, forward inference is used to optimally combine locat...

www.iak-neuro.uni-mainz.de Symposium 2006 „IAK Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology“

Although people can take spatial perspectives different from their own, it is widely assumed that egocentric perspectives are natural and have primacy. Two studies asked respondents to describe the spatial relations between two objects on a table in photographed scenes; in some versions, a person sitting behind the objects was either looking at or reaching for one of the objects. The mere prese...

Previous studies in animals have revealed effects of both prenatal and current testosterone on brain organization and behavior. However, it is unclear how these effects translate to the human brain. Here, we refine previous procedures to clarify the relative contribution of prenatal versus current testosterone indices to cognitive function. Sixty-nine subjects performed four computerized tasks ...

Grid cells in the entorhinal cortex represent an animal's current location during navigation. A new study indicates that grid cells in humans also represent information about imagined movement and spatial orienting, suggesting that the entorhinal network has a flexible role in spatial representation.