Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T15:21:19.475Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Spatial symbol systems and spatial cognition: A computer science perspective on perception-based symbol processing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 1999

Christian Freksa ,
Thomas Barkowsky  and
Alexander Klippel
Christian Freksa
Affiliation:
Department for Informatics and Cognitive Science Program, University of Hamburg, D-22527 Hamburg, Germany{freksa; barkowsky; klippel}@informatik.uni-hamburg.de
Thomas Barkowsky
Affiliation:
Department for Informatics and Cognitive Science Program, University of Hamburg, D-22527 Hamburg, Germany{freksa; barkowsky; klippel}@informatik.uni-hamburg.de
Alexander Klippel
Affiliation:
Department for Informatics and Cognitive Science Program, University of Hamburg, D-22527 Hamburg, Germany{freksa; barkowsky; klippel}@informatik.uni-hamburg.de
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

People often solve spatially presented cognitive problems more easily than their nonspatial counterparts. We explain this phenomenon by characterizing space as an inter-modality that provides common structure to different specific perceptual modalities. The usefulness of spatial structure for knowledge processing on different levels of granularity and for interaction between internal and external processes is described. Map representations are discussed as examples in which the usefulness of spatially organized symbols is particularly evident. External representations and processes can enhance internal representations and processes effectively when the same structures and principles can be implicitly assumed.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , August 1999 , pp. 616 - 617
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)