Visual Cognition and Human Performance Division

I am interested in the basic principles used by humans and other animals to solve various perceptual and spatial problems, as well as how to implement these principles in artificial systems. I have been studying the reference systems and processes underlying human navigation, space perception, object and scene recognition, and visual perception of self motion. In addition, I also plan to begin studying the nature of the representations and processes in "imagined" navigation, the relationship between real environments and imagined/virtual environments, and techniques to facilitate exploration in virtual environments.

Representative Publications:

• Wang, R. F., Crowell, J. A., Simons, D. J., Irwin, D. E., Kramer, A. F., Ambinder, M. S., Thomas, L. E., Gosney, J. L., Levinthal, B. R., & Hsieh, B. B. (2006). Spatial updating relies on an egocentric representation of space: Effects of the number of objects. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13, 281-286.
• Wang, R. F. (2003). Spatial representations and spatial updating. In D. E. Irwin & B. H. Ross (Eds.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 42, Advances in Research and Theory: Cognitive Vision, pp. 109-156. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
• Wang, R. F., & Spelke, E. S. (2002). Human Spatial Representation: Insights from Animals. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6, 376-382.
• Wang, R. F., & Simons, D. J. (1999). Active and passive scene recognition across views. Cognition, 70, 191-210.
• Wang, R. F., & Cutting, J. E. (1999). A probabilistic model for recovering camera translation. Computer Vision and Image Understanding, 76, 205-212.