Influences of subjects’ activity and environmental features on spatial encoding

Theoretical note
By Mathieu Simonnet, Stéphane Vieilledent, Jacques Tisseau
English

As the concept of spatial cognitive map has developed, it has been shown that different parameters play a role in how spatial representations are encoded within egocentric or allocentric frames of reference. The main determining factors seem to be the subject’s activity and the nature of the environmental configuration. Because we necessarily perceive space from our current position and orientation (egocentric), abstraction of this information into a more global bird’s eye view (allocentric) involves cognitive processes. In this respect, moving and locating requires the subject to mentally connect different pieces of information constructed either within an egocentric or an allocentric spatial frame of reference. Some researchers have suggested that these two kinds of spatial frames of reference are used in parallel but, although some studies have identified the specific influences of these different parameters, the manner and mechanism of their coordination is still an open question today.

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