Abstract
In human and non-human animals, conceptual knowledge is partially organized according to low-dimensional geometries that rely on brain structures and computations involved in spatial representations. Recently, two separate lines of research have investigated cognitive maps, that are associated with the hippocampal formation and are similar to world-centered representations of the environment, and image spaces, that are associated with the parietal cortex and are similar to self-centered spatial relationships. We review evidence supporting cognitive maps and image spaces, and we propose a hippocampal-parietal network that can account for the organization and retrieval of knowledge across multiple reference frames. We also suggest that cognitive maps and image spaces may be two manifestations of a more general propensity of the mind to create low-dimensional internal models.
Highlights
Conceptual knowledge is partially organized in low-dimensional geometries – ‘cognitive maps’ – that are analogs of world-centered representations of the environment, and are associated with the hippocampal formation, and image spaces, that are analogs of selfcentered spatial relationships and are mostly associated with the parietal cortex
We suggest that, compared with cognitive maps, image spaces are grounded on sensorimotor experience and appear to be mostly unidimensional [52,75]
The Curse of Dimensionality and the Functions of Spatial Mapping What are the functions of cognitive maps and image spaces? We have presented lowdimensional spaces as a means to organize conceptual knowledge in the brain
Summary
Conceptual knowledge is partially organized in low-dimensional geometries – ‘cognitive maps’ – that are analogs of world-centered representations of the environment, and are associated with the hippocampal formation, and image spaces, that are analogs of selfcentered spatial relationships and are mostly associated with the parietal cortex. The complementary activity of cognitive maps and image spaces during conceptual retrieval and manipulation may be akin to the dual system involved in spatial navigation, which is based both on self-centered and world-centered information.
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