空间量化(spacial quantification)是空间知觉的基础,是对特定空间性质的表达。离散量(discrete magnitude)与连续量(continuous quantity)分别反映了空间分立和连续的性质,二者有着相似的行为效应,在神经表达上也有部分重叠,这些证据暗示了二者可能有共同的表征机制——模拟表征(analog magnitude representation)。数量空间映射(number–space mappings)提供了数量与空间关系的直接证据。但空间量化的研究中还有许多未解之谜,如:空间量化的动态表征、量化机制的普遍性、参照点问题、复杂和多维空间的量化等。在具身认知(embodied cognition)的框架下,空间量化的心理表征研究将对空间的性质做出更深刻的回答。
The quantification of space as the basis of spacial perception,is associated with particular spacial characteristics.Discrete magnitude and continuous quantity reflect the discrete and continuous characteristics of space,respectively.Similar behavioral effects and overlapped neural representations were found in the both processes.Evidences from behavioral and neural researches suggested that there may be a common characterization of the two types of magnitude,namely analog magnitude representation.Furthermore,number-space mappings provided a direct evidence for relationships of number and space.However,there are still many mysteries in the domain of spacial quantification now,such as the dynamic representation of spacial quantification,the pervasiveness of quantitative mechanism,the problem of anchor point,the quantification of complex and multi-dimentional space,and so on.Future studies should make a more profound answer to the mental representation of spacial characteristics,within the framework of embodied cognition.