The proposed research tests and extends a model of visual scene processing and spatial representation. The model takes into account the fact that input to the visual/cognitive system is comprised of partial views of a continuous visual world. It is proposed that spatial views activate a mental schema that extrapolates beyond the depicted view, allowing it to be understood within a larger context, and thus to help support the experience of a continuous visual world. This process affects memory, however, in that observers tend to remember having seen scene structure that was never presented but had only been inferred through schema activation alone. In one such distortion, called boundary extension, the observer remembers having seen a greater expanse of a scene than had been presented. The model raises specific predictions about the likelihood of various types of spatial distortions under a wide range of conditions. In addition to broadening the understanding of spatial representation, the proposed research has implications for individuals with brain damage whose visual/spatial capacities are compromised. The research is divided into seven sections: a) objects vs. scenes; b) scene """"""""decomposition;"""""""" c) imagination; d) memory for spatial relations within a picture; e) eye movements and the perceptual schema; f) tactile spatial representations; and g) changes in pictorial representations over time. The procedures involve presentation of visual or tactile depictions of scenes followed by tests of spatial recall and recognition. To test recall, subjects' drawings will be digitized and areas and distances within their drawing will be measured using a computer graphics system. Recognition tests will include distractors and rating scales that will be sensitive to subtle differences between the test item and the viewer's internal representation.
