Image And Cognition

Human factors play a critical role in the design and interpretation of remotely sensed imagery for all Earth sciences. Remote Sensing and Cognition: Human Factors in Image Interpretation brings together current topics widely recognized and addressed regarding human cognition in geographic imagery, especially remote sensing imagery with complex data. It addresses themes around expertise including methods for knowledge elicitation and modeling of expertise, the effects of different aspects of realism on the interpretation of the environment, spatial learning using imagery, the effect of visual perspective on interpretation, and a variety of technologies and methods for utilizing knowledge in the analysis of remote sensing imagery. Written by leaders in the field, this book provides answers to the host of questions raised at the nexus of psychology and remote sensing. Academics and researchers with an interest in the human issues surrounding the use of remote sensing data will find this book to be an invaluable resource. The topics covered in this book are useful for both the scientific analysis of remote sensing imagery as well as the design and display of remote sensing imagery to facilitate a variety of other tasks including education and wayfinding. Features Brings together remote sensing, environmental, and computer scientists discussing their work from a psychological or human factors perspective Answers questions related to aesthetics of scientific visualization and mathematical analysis of perceptible objects Explains the perception and interpretation of realistic representations Provides illustrative real-world examples Shows how the features of display symbols, elements, and patterns have clear effects on processes of perception and visual search

The relationships between perception and imagery, imagery and spatial processes, memory and action: These are the main themes of this text The interest of experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience on imagery and spatial cognition is remarkably increased in the last decades. Different areas of research contribute to the clarification of the multiple cognitive processes subserving spatial perception and exploration, and to the definition of the neurophysiological mechanisms underpinning these cognitive functions. The aim of this book is to provide the reader (post-graduate students as well as experts) with a complete overview of this field of research. It illustrates the way how brain, behaviour and cognition interact in normal and pathological subjects in perceiving, representing and exploring space. (Series B).

This book represents the research efforts of individuals whose scientific expertise lies in reflection on what Sartre described as reflective acts. Theory in the cognitive psychology of mental imagery, endeavors not only being able to describe the contents and nature of mental imagery, but also being able to understand the underlying functional cognition. Psychologists need not solely rely on the techniques of introspection, and the last two decades have seen highly creative developments in techniques for eliciting behavioural data to be complemented by introspective reports. This level of sophistication has provided singular insights into the relationship between imagery and other consequential and universal aspects of human cognition: perception, memory, verbal processes and problem solving. The recognition that imagery, despite its ubiquitous nature, differs between individuals both in prevalence and in kind, and the dramatic rise in cognitive science has provided the additional potential for integrating our understanding of cognitive function with our understanding of neuroanatomy and of computer science. All of these relationships, developments and issues are dealt with in detail in this book, by some of the most distinguished authors in imagery research, working at present in both Europe and the USA.

It has often been claimed that "monsters"--supernatural creatures with bodies composed from multiple species--play a significant part in the thought and imagery of all people from all times. The Origins of Monsters advances an alternative view. Composite figurations are intriguingly rare and isolated in the art of the prehistoric era. Instead it was with the rise of cities, elites, and cosmopolitan trade networks that "monsters" became widespread features of visual production in the ancient world. Showing how these fantastic images originated and how they were transmitted, David Wengrow identifies patterns in the records of human image-making and embarks on a search for connections between mind and culture. Wengrow asks: Can cognitive science explain the potency of such images? Does evolutionary psychology hold a key to understanding the transmission of symbols? How is our making and perception of images influenced by institutions and technologies? Wengrow considers the work of art in the first age of mechanical reproduction, which he locates in the Middle East, where urban life began. Comparing the development and spread of fantastic imagery across a range of prehistoric and ancient societies, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and China, he explores how the visual imagination has been shaped by a complex mixture of historical and universal factors. Examining the reasons behind the dissemination of monstrous imagery in ancient states and empires, The Origins of Monsters sheds light on the relationship between culture and cognition.

Publisher description

What does it mean to think with images? There is a well-established tradition of studying thought processes through the nature of language, and we know much more about thinking with language than about thinking with images. Piotr Kozak takes an important step towards rectifying this position. Presenting a unified theory of different types of images, such as diagrams, maps, technical drawings and photographs, Kozak argues that images provide a genuine and autonomous form of content and knowledge. In contrast to the propositional view of thinking and resemblance-based accounts, he puts forward a measurement-theoretic account of images as operations that exemplify measures, revealing the outcomes of measurement operations performed on a depicted situation. Bringing together insights from philosophy of science, picture-theory, cognitive science and cognitive psychology, this book demonstrates that we can only understand what an image is if we truly understand the role they play in our thought processes, challenging the prevailing view that the utility of images is only instrumental and cognitively inferior.