How do we mentally process spatial information?

“Making Space – the development of spatial representation and reasoning”

The book notes that even though there are many theories, it spotlights three, those being Piaget’s, Nativist’s and Vygotskyan’s. Piaget’s theory implies that humans are born without spatial understanding, and it is through our natural development that we can grasp it via experience. It is explained through an example of children reaching for an object and whether it is “reachable” or “unreachable”, thus allowing them to determine and learn if something is far or near. Nativist’s trust that innate understandings of space are present at birth, and further aspects are advanced over time. Vygotskyan’s believe that social interactions as well as separate, individual ones are what provoke us to develop. It is discussed that a child interacting with a competent adult is more beneficial to their development than working alone, but other theories disagree with this. An example of this is human developement, from mammals that were hunters and gatherers, which involved knowledge and understanding of space around them in order to hunt efficiently. Thus being a comprehension spatially that was developed through experience and not learned from others. It also shortly discusses the use of maps and mathematical diagrams and how we visualise and process them. Being able to use a map and correctly interact with the spaces around us from it is interesting and also a more advanced understanding of spatial awareness. This theory also concludes that they believe it is up to the individual as to how much they wish to learn.

To put a city in a book, to put the world on one sheet of paper -- maps are the most condensed humanized spaces of all...They make the landscape fit indoors, make us masters of sights we can't see and spaces we can't cover. (Harbison, 2000, p162)

Using mathematical diagrams and figures to visualise a space, is thought to be an advanced comprehension of spatial understanding as investigations have proven many people cannot understand this without visual aids such as maps. Being able to understand spatial concepts without visual aids is an advanced technique and one that allows us to also manipulate spaces as well as imagine them. Harbison’s quote is one that also communicates the idea that it can be just as hard to reduce the dimensions of something as it is to increase them. Not only is it a challenge to put the three dimensional into a two dimensional form, it also needs to be understood by others and communicated in a precise manner. As discussed previously, there are many theories as to how we apprehend these representations. For example, will we ever be able to understand the fourth dimension if we cannot recognise how we understand the three dimensional ones that surround us today?