Elsevier

Cognition

Volume 32, Issue 1, June 1989, Pages 65-97
Cognition

The role of location indexes in spatial perception: A sketch of the FINST spatial-index model

https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(89)90014-0Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper hypothesizes a resource-limited mechanism, called a FINST, for individuating or indexing visual features, as distinct from encoding their type or location. FINSTs have the property that they index features in a way that is transparent to their retinal location, and hence under certain conditions succeed in “pointing to” scene locations. The basic assumption is that no operation upon sets of features can occur unless all the features to which the operation applies are first FINSTed. A number of applications of this hypothesis are explored in this paper, including applications to phenomena such as the spatial stability of visual percepts, the ability to track several independently moving targets in parallel, the ability to detect a class of spatial relations requiring the use of “visual routines”, various mental imagery phenomena, and the ability to encode complex shapes for recognition. In addition, the possibility is examined that such indexes might be used to bind perceived locations to arguments in motor commands, thereby allowing some forms of perceptual-motor coordination. Several additional assumptions are introduced for this purpose, including the postulation of other indexes (called ANCHORS) for non-visually sensed locations. It is assumed that ANCHORS can be bound to FINSTs, thus allowing cross-referencing of visually detected locations to locations given within a proprioceptive or motor-command frame of reference.

Résumé

Cet article propose un mécanisme à ressource limitée appellé FINST, dont le but est d'individualiser ou d'indexer des traits visuels, et qui se distingue de l'encodage des types ou des positions. Les FINSTs ont la propriété qu'ils indexent des traits ou des ensembles de traits quelle que soit leur position rétinienne, et sous certaines conditions, peuvent pointer vers des endroits stables dans une scéne visuelle. L'hypothèse de base est qu'aucune opération portant sur des ensembles de traits ne peut s'effectuer avant que ceux-ci été FINSTés.

Un certain nombre d'applications de cette hypothèse est exploré dans ce papier; entre auters, le phénomène de la stabilité spatiale des percepts visuels, l'aptitude à poursuivre en parallèle plusieurs cibles en mouvement, l'aptitude à détecter une classe de relations spatiales qui nécessitent l' utilisation de “routines visuelles”, de nombreux phénomènes d'imagerie mentale, et l'aptitude à encoder des formes complexes dans un format utilisable pour la reconnaissance. De plus, on examine la possibilité que de tels indexes puissent être utilisés pour lier les positions spatiales perçues à des paramètres de commandes motrices, permettant ainsi une forme de coordination perceptuo-motrice. Dans ce but, on introduit quelques hypothèses supplémentaries, notamment, l'existence d'autres indexes (appellés ANCRES) qui correspondent à des positions perçues non-visuellement. On suppose que les ANCRES peuvent être reliées aux FINSTs, permettant ainsi des références croisées entre des positions détéctées visuellement et des positions définies à l'intérieur d'un cadre de référence proprioceptif ou d'une commande motrice.

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