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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 24, 2025

Author Spotlight: Investigating the Effects of Mind-Body-Movement Practices on Brain Function

Author Spotlight: Investigating the Effects of Mind-Body-Movement Practices on Brain Function

Published on: January 26, 2024

From spatial navigation via visual construction to episodic memory and imagination.

Michael A Arbib¹

¹University of California San Diego, San Diego, USA. arbib@usc.edu.

Biological Cybernetics

|April 15, 2020

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

This study proposes the IBSEN model, integrating visual construction with spatial navigation and episodic memory. It explores how imagination constructs novel scenes by combining prior memories and schemas.

Keywords:

Affordances Cognitive map Dorsal stream Episodic memory Hippocampus IBSEN model of Imagination in Brain Systems for Episodes and Navigation Imagination Navigation Schema theory Taxon Affordance Model VISIONS model of visual scene understanding Ventral stream World Graph model

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Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain

Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain

Published on: October 13, 2023

Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Neuroscience
Artificial Intelligence

Background:

Current spatial navigation models often limit memory recall to familiar views.
There's a need for models that explain the imagination of novel scenes and episodes.
Existing models struggle to link spatial navigation, episodic memory, and imagination.

Purpose of the Study:

To propose a new conceptual framework, Visual Integration of Diverse Multi-Modal Aspects (VIDMA), for modeling imagination.
To extend spatial navigation models by incorporating visual construction mechanisms.
To link episodic memory and imagination through constructive processes.

Main Methods:

Building upon the TAM-WG (Taxon Affordance Model and World Graph) model for spatial navigation.
Introducing a variant of schema theory and the VISIONS computational model for visual scene understanding.
Developing the IBSEN (Imagination in Brain Systems for Episodes and Navigation) conceptual model.

Main Results:

VISIONS represents scenes as schema instances linked to visual data.
The proposed framework extends scene understanding to dynamic episodes involving agents, actions, and objects.
Imagination is conceptualized as a constructive process combining and adjusting prior memories and schemas.

Conclusions:

The IBSEN model offers a new perspective on imagination as a constructive process essential for navigation and memory.
This framework facilitates understanding how diverse episodic memories and schemas integrate to form coherent imagined experiences.
The proposed approach has implications for understanding dreams, narratives, and artificial intelligence systems.