REPRESENTING DIRECTION IN LANGUAGE AND SPACE

The fast growing interdisciplinary research area of 'language and space' investigates how language and representations of space are linked in information processing systems, like the brain. This is the first book in a new series at the forefront of research in the interfaces between brain, perception, and language. When we use directions in language, such as 'under the tree', how are these directions represented in our minds before we even start speaking, and how are directions expressed in different languages? Considering the way in which language and space are linked has consequences for theories on word meaning (linguistics and philosophy), for the construction of language-to-space interfaces (computer science), for our comprehension of how people use language in different contexts and cultures (psychology and anthropology), and for the way in which we can distinguish between normal and subnormal cognitive processing (neuroscience).

Emile van der Zee is senior lecturer in Psychology at the University of Lincoln. His publications include Cognitive Interfaces: Constraints on Linking Cognitive Information (2000, together with prof. Urpo Nikanne), also published by Oxford University Press. Jon Slack is the head of Psychology at the University of Lincoln. He
completed his PhD at Manchester University in 1976 and has held teaching
posts at the Open University and the University of Kent. His main
research interests are in neural network modeling and representational theory.