The goal of the research proposed is to use the newly discovered phenomenon of repetition blindness (RB) for locations to explore the way location is coded by the brain. RB for locations occurs when letters are rapidly presented in different locations; it is found that subjects have a relative impairment in reporting letters if a previous letter has appeared in the same location. The research proposed will simultaneously explore this phenomenon further, and use it as a tool for exploring spatial codes. A number of the experiments are designed to determine what counts as """"""""the same location"""""""" in this phenomenon. In particular, the hypothesis that the brain codes locations as distinctions between objects, or between parts of the same object, is explored. Additional experiments will examine the role of token individuation, attention, and symbolic coding in this phenomenon, as well as attempt to map functional distinctions between location codes onto anatomical distinctions by using functional magnetic resonance imaging.
| Epstein, R; Harris, A; Stanley, D et al. (1999) The parahippocampal place area: recognition, navigation, or encoding? Neuron 23:115-25 |
