Functional neuroanatomy of spatial perception, spatial processes and attention

Empirical data from experimental psychology, primate neurophysiology, and neuropsychological observations of brain damaged patients are the primary generators of experimental hypotheses for functional neuroimaging experiments in spatial neurocognition: the way in which space is mapped from early sensory codes (e.g., retinotopic maps, somatotopic maps) through transformation to higher-order coordinates. This chapter discusses the multicomponent nature of space representation and the existence of several spatial frames (e.g., far as opposed to near space); the distinction between object- and space-based visual cognition; the relationship between space and motion cognition; and the modulation of spatial representation and perception through attentional mechanisms.