Ch 7: What is spatial cognition

Question 1

Spatial attention

Answer 1

the ability to direct attention to stimuli in space

Question 2

Posners attention model: covert & overt

Answer 2

spatial information processing holds an important place
stimulus driven covert orienting –> attention is automatically drawn by spatial stimuli
top down over orienting –> require executive control

Question 3

egocentric view

Answer 3

we take ourselves as a frame of reference, we use self-centered representation

Question 4

allocentric view

Answer 4

there is a bird’s eye view/mental map

Question 5

categorical information processing

Answer 5

left hemisphere
relative spatial relationship between objects is central
(the glasses are in the drawer)

Question 6

coordinated information processing

Answer 6

right hemisphere
has a more metric character
spatial relationships are expressed using coordinates
(the glasses are 25 centimeters to the left of the book)

Question 7

Spatial memory: three subdomains

Answer 7

1. spatial working memory
2. object-location memory
3. learning and remembering of routes

Question 8

How is a route learned?

Answer 8

use of landmarks –> object locations

combination of allocentric and egocentric knowledge

Question 9

Simultanagnosia: ventral & dorsal

Answer 9

spatial perception is impaired
patients do not have an overview of the world around them: they only see part of the visual scene at any given time

ventral: damage in the left occipital/temporal, patients can observe multiple objects at the same time, but cannot recognise/interpret a scene as such, read letter by letter
dorsal: bilateral damage parietal/occipital, use identification of certain parts of an object to infer something about the whole object, difficulty locating the stimuli

Question 10

Neglect

Answer 10

spatial attention disorder

delayed or no response to stimuli on the contralateral side of the brain injury

Question 11

Extinction

Answer 11

this term is used when neglect patients recover

Question 12

egocentric disorientation

Answer 12

difficulty estimating the relative option of objects relative to themselves

Question 13

disorientation in direction/heading orientation

Answer 13

difficulty observing and remembering landmarks and their relative orientation

Question 14

landmark agnosia

Answer 14

difficulty recognising landmarks

Question 15

anterograde disorientation

Answer 15

new routes cannot be learned

Question 16

left-right confusion

Answer 16

mainly occurs in alzheimer patients

Question 17

constructive apraxia

Answer 17

simplifying a drawing, extending certain parts and drawing copy very close or even on top of the original

Question 18

optical apraxia

Answer 18

difficulty reaching and grasping visual objects in the peripheral visual field

Question 19

Balint Holmes syndrome: 3 disorders

Answer 19

1. dorsal simultan agnosia
2. optic ataxia
3. unaware of objects unless these are centrally positioned in their field of vision

they cannot proces more than one object at a time

Question 20

spatial cognition: frontal lobe

Answer 20

spatial working memory
integrating information
spatial-temporal learning

Question 21

spatial cognition: posterior temporal lobe

Answer 21

where route
egocentric coding
categorical relationships (left)
coordinated relationships (right)
spatial localisation
attention

Question 22

Spatial cognition: temporal lobe

Answer 22

what-route

shape & object recognition

Question 23

spatial cognition: hippocampus

Answer 23

allocentric coding

linking the object to the location