Psychological Time and the Processing of Spatial Information

Abstract

Abstract A static “snapshot” of the world contains abundant information that allows the brain to automatically generate a reasonably accurate representation of geo graphic space in the area proximate to the observer. The sensory-perceptual systems of the brain automatically extract information that serves as raw material for psychological representations of geographic space. The classic view of visual perception holds that changes in sensory information that occur as a result of motion in the environment or of the observer (e.g., motion parallax) merely add additional cues concerning space to those available in a static display. This classic view is incomplete. As a person interacts with the environment, he or she encodes additional spatial, as well as temporal, information into memory. This occurs as a result of the controlled, or nonautomatic, processing of information. In short, some information is innately available to the organism, some becomes automated only as a result of learning, and some is only available if a person engages in con trolled information processing. Eventually, high-level cognitive factors such as judgmental heuristics influence the use of all encoded spatial and temporal information.