Spatial Representation Problems in Philosophy and Psychology

by Eilan, Naomi; McCarthy, Rosaleen; Brewer, Bill

• ISBN13: 9780198238874
• ISBN10: 0198238878
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-05-27
• Publisher: Clarendon Press

Summary

Spatial Representation presents original, specially written essays by leading psychologists and philosophers on a fascinating set of topics at the intersection of these two disciplines. They address such questions as these: Do the extraordinary navigational abilities of birds mean that thesebirds 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 working of normal spatialconsciousness? The essays are arranged into five sections, each of which reflects a central area of research into spatial cognition, and opens with a short introduction by the editors, designed to facilitate cross-disciplinary reading. The volume as a whole offers a rich and compelling expression of the view thatto advance our understanding of the way we represent the external world it is necessary to draw on both philosophical and psychological approaches.

Author Biography

Naomi Eilan is Research Fellow in Philosophy at the University of Warwick; Rosaleen McCarthy is University Lecturer in Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge; Bill Brewer is Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at St Catherine's College, Oxford.

Table of Contents

List of contributors	vii
Preface	x
General introduction	1	(22)
Naomi Eilan
Rosaleen McCarthy
Bill Brewer
I Frames of reference	23	(74)
Introduction: Frames of reference	25	(6)
Bill Brewer
Julian Pears
Organization of spatial knowledge in children	31	(12)
Herbert L. Pick Jr
Kant and the sea-horse: An essay in the neurophilosophy of space	43	(22)
John O'Keefe
The role of physical objects in spatial thinking	65	(32)
John Campbell
II Intuitive physics	97	(80)
Introduction: Intuitive physics	99	(13)
Naomi Eilan
Extrapolating and remembering positions along cognitive trajectories: Uses and limitations of analogies to physical motion	112	(20)
Lynn A. Cooper
Margaret P. Munger
Perceiving and reasoning about objects: Insights from infants	132	(30)
Elizabeth S. Spelke
Gretchen A. Van de Walle
Intuitive mechanics, psychological reality and the idea of a material object	162	(15)
Christopher Peacocke
III Spatial representation in the sensory modalities	177	(92)
Introduction: Spatial representation in the sensory modalities	179	(12)
Naomi Eilan
Spatial and nonspatial avenues to object recognition by the human haptic system	191	(15)
Roberta L. Klatzky
Susan J. Lederman
Sense modalities and spatial properties	206	(13)
Michael Martin
Molyneux's babies: Cross-modal perception, imitation and the mind of the preverbal infant	219	(17)
Andrew N. Meltzoff
Molyneux's question and the idea of an external world	236	(20)
Naomi Eilan
Content and vehicle	256	(13)
Ruth Garrett Millikan
IV Action	269	(48)
Introduction: Action	271	(6)
Bill Brewer
Actions and responses: The dual psychology of behaviour	277	(17)
Anthony Dickinson
Bernard Balleine
The integration of spatial vision and action	294	(23)
Bill Brewer
V What and where	317	(84)
Introduction: What and where	319	(6)
Rosaleen McCarthy
A neurobiological approach to the development of `where' and `what' systems for spatial representation in human infants	325	(15)
Janette Atkinson
Computing `where' and `what' in the visual system	340	(16)
Oliver Braddick
Image indeterminacy: The picture theory of images and the bifurcation of `what' and `where' information in higher-level vision	356	(17)
Michael Tye
Assembling routines and addressing representations: An alternative conceptualization of `what' and `where' in the human brain	373	(28)
Rosaleen McCarthy
Workshop participants	400	(1)
Index	401