NSF WORKSHOP ON VISUAL COGNITION AND DECISION-MAKING IN THE SPATIAL DOMAIN

Jack Gelfand
Department of Psychology
Princeton University

Susan Epstein
Department of Computer Science
Hunter College
City University of New York

Michael Marefat
Department of Electrical Engineering
University of Arizona

CONTACT INFORMATION

Jack Gelfand
Department of Psychology
Princeton, University
Princeton, NJ 08544
Phone: (609) 258-2930
Fax : (609) 258 1113
Email: jjg@princeton.edu

WWW PAGE

http://www.princeton.edu/~jjg

PROGRAM AREA

Adaptive Human Interfaces.

KEYWORDS

visual cognition, decision-making, human and machine reasoning, spatial representation, diagrammatic reasoning, qualitative physical reasoning

PROJECT SUMMARY

This grant supported a workshop on the interdisciplinary aspects of spatial cognition and its role in diverse fields in engineering, psychology and computer science. Any attempt to understand or model spatial cognition must address neural and linguistic issues of representation, storage and retrieval, as well as mechanisms that are particular to spatial reasoning. There is already a body of relevant work in cognitive modeling and computer science on these issues, categorized variously as diagrammatic reasoning, qualitative physical reasoning, geometric reasoning, computer-aided design, and formal theories of the logic of spatial reasoning. Because some of these approaches are published in widely different venues, it is difficult for researchers to keep abreast of the topic. The workshop will produce a written research planning report that will help to inform and integrate the diverse research in this field, and provide a platform for interaction among researchers in visual cognition. The report will also highlight how interdisciplinary research on these topics can be supported.

PROJECT REFERENCES

S. Epstein, J. Gelfand and M. Marefat,"Report on the NSF Workshop on Visual Cognition and Decision-Making in the Spatial Domain," in preparation (1997).

AREA BACKGROUND

Space is a fundamental category of thought and as such plays a deep role in many aspects of human cognition. In particular, spatial cognition integrates visual perception with spatial domain knowledge, and serves as the interface to high-level reasoning about space. Research in processing and using spatial information is carried out from many different points of view but is dominated by similar themes in representation and reasoning. In particular, the choice of models, issues in scale and granularity, the qualitative/quantitative dimension and dynamic change recur in many fields.

Many diverse, practical areas stand to benefit from strong research in visual cognition. The design of computer interfaces will benefit from an understanding of human spatial perception and cognition. Automated manufacturing and mechanical design are also obvious candidates. Automated scheduling of transportation systems needs a firm underpinning of spatial reasoning. Robotics and control of autonomous vehicles need a technological basis for automated spatial guidance. In particular, there remain open issues in representation and storage of spatial information and how it can be used in navigation.

AREA REFERENCES

P. Bloom, M. Peterson, L. Nadel and M. Garrett, Language and Space, MIT Press (1996).

G. Allwein and J. Barwise, Eds., Logical Reasoning with Diagrams, Oxford University Press (1996).

B. Chandrasekaran, J. Glasgow and N. Narayanan, Eds., Diagrammatic Reasoning: Cognitive and Compuatational Perspectives, AAAI Press (1995).

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