Spatial and temporal cognition (Integrierte Veranstaltung) Termingruppe 1

In this seminar, students will be introduced into basic concepts and contemporary approaches in the fieds of spatial and temporal cognition. The perception of space and time dimensions is central to every human experience, and relevant for many everyday behaviors (e.g., navigation, wayfinding, timed interactions with the environment). Together we will discuss seminal papers within these two fields. We will learn about different theories and mental concepts on time and space, discuss the methodologies by which they are studied, and consider some clinical cases in which the spatial and/or temporal processing is impaired. At the end of the course, students will (i) be able to judge the scientific value of publications in the fields of time and space perception, (ii) understand the basic concepts and theories upon which these publications are based, (iii) know the advantages and disadvantages of different research methodologies, and (iv) be able to formulate own research ideas in the fields. The course is divided into three parts. In the first and the second part (devoted to spatial and temporal cognition, respectively), we will learn about common conceptualizations of space/time, different principles to distinguish between mental representation of space/time (e.g., allocentric vs. egocentric frames of reference, representations for small- vs large scale spaces, or for durations in the range from milliseconds to severa days). We will learn about different methodologies to study spatial and temporal cognition (behavioral paradigms, psychophysical and neuroscientific approaches). In the third part, we will take an integrated look on time and space perception and learn about the mutual interactions between those two perceptual domains. Is our sense of time influenced by our perception of space? At the end of each part, we will visit different laboratories at the TU and get a practical demonstration about how studies on spatial and temporal cognition are implemented.