Attention to the interface between perceptual and linguistic representations has recently refocused research on human spatial cognition. In turn, an array of new questions—both theoretical and empirical—have been prompted. For instance, how do the conceptual representations that are semantically recruited in linguistic descriptions of space interact with and possibly shape our perceptual representation of space? Is the human categorization of object configurations determined, in part, by grammatical elements of linguistic representation? Conversely, how does the deployment and interpretation of information gained from perceptual representation affect grammatical categories and lexical organization? And how much of spatial cognition is amenable to empirical analysis of language? This conference brings together some of the most eminent researchers working on human spatial cognition in the attempt to take stock of these and related questions and provide an insight into the future directions of research on the interface between perceptual and linguistic representations of space.
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