From Geometry to Behavior : An Introduction to Spatial Cognition

Hanspeter A. Mallot

ISBN 10: 0262547112 / ISBN 13: 9780262547116

Published by MIT Press Ltd Jan 2024, 2024

About this Item

Neuware - 'This book book explains the biological mechanisms of dealing with space, from the perception of visual space to the constructions of large space representations, i.e. the 'cognitive map.' It combines evidence from simple behavior in animals with more complex behaviors found in humans'--.

Seller Inventory # 9780262547116

Bibliographic Details

• Title: From Geometry to Behavior : An Introduction to Spatial Cognition
• Publisher: MIT Press Ltd Jan 2024
• Publication Date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262547112
• ISBN 13: 9780262547116
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 226W x 176H x 21D millimeters 226 millimeters width by 176 millimeters height by 21 millimeters depth
• Weight: 622 grams

About this title

Synopsis

An overview of the mechanisms and evolution of spatial cognition, integrating evidence from psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science, and computational geometry.

Understanding how we deal with space requires input from many fields, including ethology, neuroscience, psychology, cognitive science, linguistics, geography, and spatial information theory. In From Geometry to Behavior, cognitive neuroscientist Hanspeter A. Mallot provides an overview of the basic mechanisms of spatial behavior in animals and humans, showing how they combine to support higher-level performance. Mallot explores the biological mechanisms of dealing with space, from the perception of visual space to the constructions of large space representations: that is, the cognitive map. The volume is also relevant to the epistemology of spatial knowledge in the philosophy of mind.

Mallot aims to establish spatial cognition as a scientific field in its own right. His general approach is psychophysical, in that it focuses on quantitative descriptions of behavioral performance and their real-world determinants, thus connecting to the work of theorists in computational neuroscience, robotics, and computational geometry. After an overview of scientific thinking about space, Mallot covers spatial behavior and its underlying mechanisms in the order of increasing memory involvement. He describes the cognitive processes that underlie advanced spatial behaviors such as directed search, wayfinding, spatial planning, spatial reasoning, object building and manipulation, and communication about space. These mechanisms are part of the larger cognitive apparatus that also serves visual and object cognition; understanding events, actions, and causality; and social cognition, which includes language. Of all of these cognitive domains, spatial cognition most likely occurred first in the course of evolution and is the most widespread throughout the animal kingdom.

About the Author

Hanspeter A. Mallot is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Tübingen. He is the author of Computational Vision: Information Processing in Perception and Visual Behavior (MIT Press).