Access to knowledge of spatial structure at novel points of observation.

Adults were asked to judge the self-to-object directions in a room from novel points of observation that differed from their actual point at times only by a rotation and at other times only by a translation.The results show for the rotation trials that the errors and latencies when a novel point was imagined were worse than the baseline responses from their actual points of observation, and the latencies varied as a function of the magnitude of the to-be-imagined rotation.For the translation trials, on the other hand, the errors and latencies when a novel point was imagined were comparable to the baseline responses from their actual point and did not vary significantly across the different imagined station points.The evidence indicates that subjects know the objectto-object relations directly, without going through the origin of a coordinate system.In addition, similarities in processing during imagination on the one hand, and perception and action on the other are discussed.The spatial structure of a place consists of the distances and directions relating its objects, features, and events.Observers often produce spatially coordinated action while on the move and plan actions before reaching the station points from which they intend to launch them.This is the case when one plans a route before embarking on a trip.And it is implied whenever one launches an act while on the move, because the motor plan to control the act must be set before the launching point is reached.Because of this, observers need access to knowledge of the spatial structure of places from novel station points.The present experiments are about observers' abilities to imagine the spatial structure available at novel points of observation and about some of the conditions that facilitate access to such knowledge.In each experiment observers stood at one point of observation and viewed the locations of target objects scattered around them in a room.Then they were asked to close their eyes, imagine they occupied a novel point of observation, and aim a pointer at the targets relative to the novel point.Geometrically, movements to new points of observation consist of combinations of simple rotation and translation