Nicholas Giudice

Department of Spatial Information Science and Engineering
University of Maine

http://vemilab.org/node/17

Friday, November 13

12:00-1:30 pm

Multimodal processing of spatial information: The intersection of

spatial cognition and Neurocognitive Engineering

Although spatial behavior is one of the most common activities of daily

life, most people give little thought as to the information they use, or

how they use it, to learn and navigate their environment. The purpose

of this talk is to provide a broad overview of spatial cognition as

relates to how different input modalities can build up into a common

(arguably amodal) spatial representation in memory which functions

equivalently in the service of action (e.g., spatial orientation,

updating, and wayfinding). In addition to a basic understanding of

multimodal spatial cognition, the notion of functionally equivalent

spatial representations has important application to the design of

multimodal interfaces and navigational technologies. Topics discussed

will include work from my lab (and that of my collaborators) on human

spatial cognition using different inputs as the basis for learning,

representing, and acting in the world, the use of verbal and non-visual

real-time displays for conveying spatial information during navigation,

and the challenges, both spatiocognitive and technological, associated

with indoor wayfinding of real and virtual buildings, both with and

without vision. I will discuss evidence for functionally equivalent

spatial representations from several lines of behavioral research, show

neuroimaging data on common regions of spatial information processing,

and examine results showing similar spatial behaviors performed using

visual and non-visual navigation interfaces.

More information about this work and the research happenings in my

Virtual Environment and Multimodal Interaction (VEMI) Laboratory can be

found at www.vemilab.org.