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"our brain must survey the surrounding environment, construct a mental map of the world, settle on a way forward" A colleague in my phd program went on the job
by jtraffic 9y ago
"our brain must survey the surrounding environment, construct a mental map of the world, settle on a way forward"
A colleague in my phd program went on the job market this year with research that is related to this, especially to the connection between writing and walking discussed in the final paragraph.
In a nutshell, his theory and experimental evidence suggest that we use the same cognitive mechanisms to process real maps as we do abstract maps. In particular, he shows that we often have mental "landmarks." He focuses on number lines as maps, and suggests that the round numbers behave like landmarks. He shows that all of the known cognitive signatures of the way we process landmarks on, say, a road-trip are present for these abstract landmarks.
He shows the same thing with textures in the context of anchoring and adjusting (we anchor on an initial texture and use it as a cognitive landmark.)
To me, his theory is extremely compelling and explains a lot. It makes sense that our brains, as our environments have become more complex, have adapted to use spatial cognition to process the abstract.
EDIT: Here is a link to his CV: http://marketingphdjobs.org/sites/default/files/Gaurav%20Jain_CV.pdf http://marketingphdjobs.org/sites/default/files/Gaurav%20Jai.... The paper I'm talking about is called "Presence of Numerical Landmarks and Their Effects on Judgments." He hasn't posted it on the web, I'll see if I can get a copy from him and post it (if he's ok with me doing so.)
- bujak 9y agoVery intersting, could you point me to his research?
- sandbags 9y agoI'd also be interested in reading this.
- neom 9y agothis is super interesting to me, in my "research" into dyslexia, I find that folks with very high dyslexic traits also happened to be incredibly spatially aware. Coincidently, they also happened to be excellent artists, often in sculpting.
- jtraffic 9y agoThis made me think of the belief, in some psychology circles, that people with synesthesia are more creative. "Synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway."[0] Ex: certain numbers trigger certain colors in some people's brains. Here is an article with a description of the idea and an attempt to explain the mechanism: http://mobile.www.daysyn.com/Wardetal2008.pdf http://mobile.www.daysyn.com/Wardetal2008.pdf [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
- stuart78 9y agoI had not heard of this, but it is a good description of my brother who is dyslexic and a talented sculptor.
- Fricken 9y agoThere's the loci method for memorization: The method of loci (loci being Latin for "places") is a method of memory enhancement which uses visualizations with the use of spatial memory, familiar information about one's environment, to quickly and efficiently recall information. The method of loci is also known as the memory journey, memory palace, or mind palace technique. Many memory contest champions claim to use this technique to recall faces, digits, and lists of words. These champions' successes have little to do with brain structure or intelligence, but more to do with using spatial memory and the use of the method of loci. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci Correlations have been found between memory and the playing of 3D video games, which also utilize our spatial memory. (Though wandering around in a video game is probably a subpar surrogate for doing the same thing in meatspace.) https://news.uci.edu/faculty/playing-3-d-video-games-can-boost-memory-formation-uci-study-finds/ https://news.uci.edu/faculty/playing-3-d-video-games-can-boo... I also recommend this BBC video of a persistence hunter tracking and running down a Kudu, just as an illustration of how walking/running, language/tracking, spatial memory, and planning/creativity are all tied together as a system that was once necessary for our survival: https://youtu.be/826HMLoiE_o https://youtu.be/826HMLoiE_o
- z3t4 9y agoam i the only one that can remember where in the code something is located ? By remembering the shape of the code.
- jarmitage 9y agoPlease link!
- alanfalcon 9y agoI'd really love to have him study Aphantasia (non-functioning mind's eye) and understand what people with the condition do to compensate.
- gnaritas 9y agoI have Aphantasia, nice to see people suddenly becoming aware of this. I'm hoping to see a lot more research in this area in the next few years, but anecdotally I'll say spacial cognition and visual memory are different things, I have the former but not the latter. You don't need a minds eye to have a sense of where things are spatially but given that people with visual recall likely do this task visually, I'm not sure I can explain it.
- thefalcon 9y agoI have visual recall but I often have a tangible sense of spacial memory. Like I'll feel an almost tingling or aura/presence of an important object in a given vector and magnitude. Maybe related? But I also get the same kind of extra-sensory feeling when I copy data (doubly so if I cut data) -- like my hand is charged with something extra until I "unload it" by pasting the data. This has saved me many times when I get distracted at work mid-task, and before I go copy some new piece of data I can feel that I haven't pasted in the old data and go take care of that first. (I Wonder if anyone has done a study on this, and how many people experience something similar.)
- gnaritas 9y agoNever heard of anything like that, interesting. Sounds like some sort of synesthesia.
- noisem4ker 9y agoI share the exact same sensation of being "charged with data", that persists even if I get distracted and completely forget about the content of the clipboard. It's like a very tangible pinpoint for a planned activity.