2a. (Visuo)spatial cognition

Question 1

Where are the following areas responsible for when we’re talking about spatial cognition?

1. Frontal
2. Parietal
3. Visual
4. Temporal
5. Hippocampus

Answer 1

1. Spatial working memory & spatial information processing
2. Understand the location of ourself and objects in space & spatial attention
3. Where visuospatial information comes in (perception)
4. Object identification & recognition
5. Navigation & perspective taking (using your mental representation of the space or visualize the space)

Question 2

What are small scale space and large scale space?

Answer 2

Small scale space = you don’t have to physically move around to interact with space, so using paper tasks that involve some sort of spatial processing, like mental rotation (= table top space).

Large scale space = bigger than just table top and requires us to move eround (e.g. Morris water maze experiment)

Question 3

What do you use/need for small scale space? (5x)

Answer 3

1. Working memory
2. Control of fingers/hands
3. Arithmetic and calculation
4. Matching
5. Motor imagery –> people actually activate their motor system with this, because they are mentally moving the object

Question 4

What do you use/need for large scale space? (3x)

Answer 4

1. Autobiographical/episodic/semantic memory
2. Emotional response
3. Cognitive processing of information –> even though you’re sitting down, but are presented with a large scale space on a screen or VR goggles, we consider this interacting with large scale space

Question 5

What do you use/need for both small scale and large scale space? (4x)

Answer 5

1. Cognitive processing of visual spatial information
2. Working memory
3. Planning
4. Executive control

Question 6

Navigation

What is ‘route following’?

Answer 6

You don’t have to do anything, it’s very basic navigation.

With ants, the most efficient route will be highlighted with the most pheromones. With humans, we follow a color or sign

Question 7

Navigation

What is ‘piloting’?

Answer 7

If you don’t have your destination in mind yet, or are searching for a place, you’re piloting in space (exploring).

Question 8

Navigation

What is ‘dead reckoning’?

Answer 8

When we move around, our body memorizes our physical displacement and therefore, we are often able to find our starting location without much trouble, because our body captures our movements and integrates a mental map of the environment.