Action related determinants of spatial coding in perception and memory

Cognitive representations of spatial object relations are known to be affec ted by spatial as well as nonspatial characteristics of the stimulus config uration. We review findings from our lab suggesting that at least part of t he effects of nonspatial factors originate already in perception and, hence , reflect principles of perceptual rather than memory organization. Moreove r, we present evidence that action related factors can also affect the orga nization of spatial information in perception and memory. A theoretical acc ount of these effects is proposed, which assumes that cognitive object repr esentations integrate spatial and nonspatial stimulus information as well a s information about object related actions.