Mental Representations of Spatial and Nonspatial Relations
{'Code': '04040500', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'SBE', 'LongName': 'Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'BCS', 'LongName': 'Division Of Behavioral and Cognitive Sci'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Jasmine Young', 'PO_EMAI': 'jyoung@nsf.gov', 'PO_PHON': '7032924833'}
This research is concerned with how people remember spatial and                 nonspatial information.  The project will examine (a) memory for                photographs, (b) the metric structure of spatial memories, and                  (c) constraints on theories of memory and retrieval.  A series of               eleven experiments will investigate memory for photographs and                  other two-dimensional projections of three-dimensional spatial                  layouts.  The principal goal of these studies is to determine                   which three-dimensional properties of a scene are encoded in the                mental representation of a photograph of that scene.  In                        addition, these experiments will determine when two- and three-                 dimensional spatial relations are extracted during picture                      perception.  The results from these studies will bear on current                theories of visual perception.  Many of these theories assume                   that spatial relations in depth are inferred from information                   given in two dimensions (e.g., retinal images).  In other words,                some three-dimensional spatial relations should not be available                until certain two-dimensional spatial relations have been                       perceived.  This prediction will be tested in this research.  A                 second set of six experiments will investigate the metric                       structure of spatial representations.  These experiments are                    expected to show that spatial memories often violate two                        fundamental axioms of metric (e.g., Euclidean) representation,                  segmental additivity and symmetry.  The final set of four                       experiments will examine the range of priming effects.  Priming                 refers to the facilitative effects that responding to an item                   (e.g., lion) may have on responding to a subsequent item (e.g.,                 tiger).  Several theories of memory predict that priming will                   occur only if items are directly associated (e.g., lion-tiger).                 Other theories predict that priming will occur even if items are                separated by two or three associative steps (e.g., lion-stripes                 and mane-stripes, respectively).  Two experiments will establish                limits on the range of priming effects in lexical (word vs.                     nonword) decisions and in recognition, and two computer                         simulations will assess the extent to which neural-network models               of memory are constrained by the findings.
{'FirstName': 'Timothy', 'LastName': 'McNamara', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'P', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Timothy P McNamara', 'EmailAddress': 't.mcnamara@vanderbilt.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000409771', 'StartDate': '09/01/1989', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'Vanderbilt University', 'CityName': 'NASHVILLE', 'ZipCode': '372032416', 'PhoneNumber': '6153222631', 'StreetAddress': '110 21ST AVE S', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'Tennessee', 'StateCode': 'TN', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '05', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'TN05', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'GTNBNWXJ12D5', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': None}
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{'Code': '118000', 'Text': 'HUMAN COGNITION & PERCEPTION'}
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1988&All=true', 'xml': '8820224.xml'}