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"Mental space"
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Dark and magical places : the neuroscience of navigation
\"An illuminating examination of how the brain helps us to understand and navigate space-and why, sometimes, it doesn't work the way it should. Navigation is one of the most complex tasks our brains perform. And we do it countless times a day-as we drive across town to the airport, or traverse the maze of a supermarket, or walk within our own homes. But why is it that some people are lost on their own street and others can seamlessly navigate a new city after visiting it once? Fueled by his own spatial shortcomings, Christopher Kemp describes the brain regions that orient us in space and the specialized neurons-place cells and grid cells-that do it. He explains how the brain plans routes, recognizes landmarks, and makes sure we leave a room through a door instead of a painting. Along the way, he meets the scientists trying to understand the mental maps of modern humans, and Neanderthals, and lost people everywhere. Dark and Magical Places is an informed and entertaining journey into the mysteries of the mind\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Simultaneity and Epistemic Access in Kazym Khanty Temporal Subordination
This paper explores two non-finite temporal adverbial constructions, V-m/t- + mÄr and V-t- + sa, in the Kazym dialect of Khanty spoken in Kazym village, Khanty-Mansi autonomous region, Russia. The V-t- + sa construction expresses the meaning of point simultaneity (âwhenâ), whereas the V-m/t- + mÄr construction is mainly used in the meaning of interval simultaneity (âwhileâ). Yet, a more detailed look at these constructions reveals an additional discourse-level contrast in the direct accessibility of the main event. V-t- + sa describes simultaneously occurring events directly attested by the Speaker, whereas the use of V-m/t- + mÄr is preferred in evidential, modal and other subjective contexts where the presence of the main event is subject to the Speakerâs inference, hearsay, conjecture or imagination. Although the Speakerâs point of view is default, there are certain contexts in which the perspective switches to some other participant of the discourse. The behavior of V-m/t- + mÄr and V-t- + sa is modelled in the cognitive framework of Mental Spaces Theory.
Journal Article
Reading Your Mind While You Are Reading—Evidence for Spontaneous Visuospatial Perspective Taking During a Semantic Categorization Task
Recent studies have demonstrated people’s propensity to adopt others’ visuospatial perspectives (VSPs) in a shared physical context. The present study investigated whether spontaneous VSP taking occurs in mental space where another person’s perspective matters for mental activities rather than physical actions. Participants sat at a 90° angle to a confederate and performed a semantic categorization task on written words. From the participants’ point of view, words were always displayed vertically, while for the confederate, these words appeared either the right way up or upside down, depending on the confederate’s sitting position. Participants took longer to categorize words that were upside down for the confederate, suggesting that they adopted the confederate’s VSP without being prompted to do so. Importantly, the effect disappeared if the other’s visual access was impeded by opaque goggles. This demonstrates that human adults show a spontaneous sensitivity to others’ VSP in the context of mental activities, such as joint reading.
Journal Article
Mapping Perception: Analyzing Mental Representations of Urban Space in Timișoara, Romania
Recent studies have demonstrated the significance of mental maps in facilitating a more comprehensive understanding of how individuals perceive and mentally represent physical spaces. It is of great importance to consider discrepancies between real and perceived environments when utilising mental maps as instruments. The objective of this paper is to examine the mental representations of Timișoara, Romania in order to identify the spatial elements (neighbourhoods, streets, landmarks, urban symbols) that are particularly salient in the respondents’ mental representations of the city. A total of 559 mental maps were conducted using GIS and quantitative methods to indicate the perceived spatial elements. The findings suggest that spatial perception is influenced by certain dimensions connected to respondents’ socio-demographic features. The findings also indicate that peripheral areas of the city are perceived as lacking memorability and attractiveness, confirming that these neighbourhoods do not fulfil the necessary functions of an urban space. It can be concluded that mental mapping serves as an efficient approach to the analysis of community–space relationships. The implications of this study are valuable for any stakeholders with activities in the city of Timisoara and contribute to sustainable, qualitative, and community-based urban planning.
Journal Article
The Play of Space
Is \"space\" a thing, a container, an abstraction, a metaphor, or a social construct? This much is certain: space is part and parcel of the theater, of what it is and how it works. InThe Play of Space, noted classicist-director Rush Rehm offers a strikingly original approach to the spatial parameters of Greek tragedy as performed in the open-air theater of Dionysus. Emphasizing the interplay between natural place and fictional setting, between the world visible to the audience and that evoked by individual tragedies, Rehm argues for an ecology of the ancient theater, one that \"nests\" fifth-century theatrical space within other significant social, political, and religious spaces of Athens.
Drawing on the work of James J. Gibson, Kurt Lewin, and Michel Foucault, Rehm crosses a range of disciplines--classics, theater studies, cognitive psychology, archaeology and architectural history, cultural studies, and performance theory--to analyze the phenomenology of space and its transformations in the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. His discussion of Athenian theatrical and spatial practice challenges the contemporary view that space represents a \"text\" to be read, or constitutes a site of structural dualities (e.g., outside-inside, public-private, nature-culture). Chapters on specific tragedies explore the spatial dynamics of homecoming (\"space for returns\"); the opposed constraints of exile (\"eremetic space\" devoid of normal community); the power of bodies in extremis to transform their theatrical environment (\"space and the body\"); the portrayal of characters on the margin (\"space and the other\"); and the tragic interactions of space and temporality (\"space, time, and memory\"). An appendix surveys pre-Socratic thought on space and motion, related ideas of Plato and Aristotle, and, as pertinent, later views on space developed by Newton, Leibniz, Descartes, Kant, and Einstein. Eloquently written and with Greek texts deftly translated, this book yields rich new insights into our oldest surviving drama.
eBook
A cultural challenge: renewing the mental space for an inclusive school
This paper proposes a critical reflection about the need of transforming school into an inclusive environment, to promote personal enhancement and to enrich the collegial, social and cultural dimension. A short theoretical excursus, aimed at defining an open and autopoietic school system (Maturana & Valera, 1985), preempts a description of the different tools used to design and evaluate an inclusive school. The purpose is to consider the impact that these instruments could have in terms of policies, practices and inclusive cultures (Booth & Ainscow, 2002). The authors believe that inclusion is not a set of policies and practices, but a mental space, able to establish a culture shared by the different stakeholders of the school community. Una sfida culturale: rinnovare lo spazio mentale per una scuola inclusiva. Il contributo propone una riflessione critica di carattere espositivo rispetto all’urgenza di trasformare la scuola in un ambiente inclusivo, al fine di promuovere la valorizzazione personale e arricchire la dimensione collegiale, sociale e culturale. Dopo un breve excursus teorico, finalizzato alla definizione di un sistema formativo aperto e autopoietico (Maturana & Valera, 1985), sono presentati i diversi strumenti utili alla progettazione e valutazione di una scuola inclusiva. Scopo della riflessione è considerare l’impatto che questi strumenti sono in grado di determinare in termini di politiche, prassi e culture inclusive (Booth & Ainscow, 2002). Il presupposto alla base della riflessione degli autori è considerare l’inclusione non soltanto un insieme di politiche e pratiche, ma soprattutto uno spazio mentale, in grado di determinare una cultura diffusa e condivisa dai diversi stakeholder della comunità scolastica.
Journal Article
Semantics, conceptual spaces, and the meeting of minds
We present an account of semantics that is not construed as a mapping of language to the world but rather as a mapping between individual meaning spaces. The meanings of linguistic entities are established via a \"meeting of minds.\" The concepts in the minds of communicating individuals are modeled as convex regions in conceptual spaces. We outline a mathematical framework, based on fixpoints in continuous mappings between conceptual spaces, that can be used to model such a semantics. If concepts are convex, it will in general be possible for interactors to agree on joint meaning even if they start out from different representational spaces. Language is discrete, while mental representations tend to be continuous—posing a seeming paradox. We show that the convexity assumption allows us to address this problem. Using examples, we further show that our approach helps explain the semantic processes involved in the composition of expressions.
Journal Article
Effects of Environmental Features in Small Public Urban Green Spaces on Older Adults’ Mental Restoration: Evidence from Tokyo
Exposure to small public urban green spaces (SPUGS) has been demonstrated to have mental benefits for older adults. However, studies on identifying the objective environmental features of SPUGS and their effects on mental restoration for older adults remain limited. This study employed a multilevel regression model to investigate the restorative and vitalizing effects of the environmental features of 11 SPUGS in Tokyo. Onsite measurements were conducted in Kita-Ku, and 202 older adults were surveyed. The results showed that: (1) The fitting curve of the green view index and Restoration Outcome Scale (ROS) score showed an inverted U shape—both green view index and boundary enclosure had a strong impact on the mental restoration of older adults; (2) The colorfulness index showed the strongest relationship with the vitalizing effect. (3) The sky view factor and number of seats only influenced the ROS score, while the results of revitalization suggest that large areas of water should be avoided. (4) Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) was also confirmed to have negative effects on the mental restoration of older adults in autumn. These empirical findings can be used as a resource to promote the mental health of older adults in the design of SPUGS in high-density Asian countries.
Journal Article
Cross- and multimodal anaphoric references in mystery movies: A cognitive perspective
The article presents findings from both quantitative and qualitative research regarding the resolution of cross- and multi-modal anaphoric references to objects in two Sherlock Holmes movies directed by Guy Ritchie. The goal is to illustrate how words referring to objects are linked to images depicting the objects as well as sounds produced by the objects to constitute coreferential chains with respect to the viewers’ perception. The theoretical assumptions draw concepts primarily from cognitive linguistics (such as mental spaces, compression, frame-metonymic relations), with additional notions adopted from (verbal) semantics, pragmatics, visual semantics, and film studies. A cognitive account of regular and associative cross- and multimodal anaphora is suggested, along with a model for the representation of cross- and multi-modal coreferential chains for future manual and automated annotation tools. Overall, the work emphasizes the importance of considering both verbal and nonverbal cues in understanding anaphoric references in cinematic contexts by highlighting the cognitive processes involved while viewers integrate information from different modes.
Journal Article