The Philosophy and Psychology of Visual Space: An Interdisciplinary Workshop
The Ohio State University hosted an Interdisciplinary Workshop on the Philosophy and Psychology Visual Space (PPVS2019) on 15 and 16 February 2019. This workshop was organized in collaboration between the
Ohio State University
and the
University of Pennsylvania.
All sessions were on the
Columbus campus
of the Ohio State University.
- Conference Themes
- Organizers and Sponsors
- Conference Speakers
- Conference Participants
- Conference Program and Brochure
- Titles and Abstracts (on a separate page)
- Photographs (on a separate page)
- Video recordings of most of the talks (on OnNeuro)
- Conference Poster
- Food and Drink
- Travel, Accommodation, and Entertainment
- Registration and Contact Information
Conference Themes
Here are some of the questions that were addressed at the workshop:
- What is the nature of visual space? Is it one space or many?
- Does visual space have coherent formal structure that is invariant over operationalization?
- What is the geometry of visual space(s)? Projective? Affine? Euclidean? Sui generis?
- How does the visual system solve the problem of representing space in three dimensions on the basis of input from two-dimensional retinal images?
- How is the visual representation of space realized in the brain?
- Does the visuospatial perception of infants and children differ from that of adults and, if so, how and why?
- How can we best explain constancies and inconstancies in the visual appearance of space?
- Are there systematic distortions in the visual appearance of space?
- How can we best make sense of the misrepresentation of space in vision?
- What philosophical implications does this have for the nature of conscious experience and our knowledge of the external world?
Organizers and Sponsors
The workshop was co-organized by:
- Gary Hatfield (University of Pennsylvania, Philosophy)
- Alexander Petrov (Ohio State University, Psychology)
- Declan Smithies (Ohio State University, Philosophy)
We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the following sources:
- The Seybert Chair in Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania
- Center for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Ohio State University
- Department of Psychology, Ohio State University
- Department of Philosophy, Ohio State University
Conference Speakers
- Julie Golomb (Ohio State University, Psychology)
- Carl Granrud (University of Northern Colorado, Psychology)
- E. J. Green (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Philosophy)
- Gary Hatfield (University of Pennsylvania, Philosophy)
- Jan Koenderink (KU Leuven & Utrecht University, Psychology)
- Farid Masrour (University of Wisconsin-Madison, Philosophy)
- Alexander Petrov (Ohio State University, Psychology)
- Susanna Schellenberg (Rutgers University, Philosophy)
- Declan Smithies (Ohio State University, Philosophy)
- James Todd (Ohio State University, Psychology)
- Mark Wagner (Wagner College, Psychology)
- Ying Yu (Ohio State University, Psychology)
Conference Participants
The following researchers have registered for or otherwise expressed interest in participating in the workshop:
- Robert Briscoe (Ohio University, Philosophy)
- Angela Brown (Ohio State University, Optometry)
- Todd Ganson (Oberlin College, Philosophy)
- Harry Heft (Denison University, Psychology)
- David Hilbert (University of Illinois at Chicago, Philosophy)
- Christopher Hill (Brown University, Philosophy)
- Richard Jagacinski (Ohio State University, Psychology)
- Andrew Leber (Ohio State University, Psychology)
- Delwin Lindsey (Ohio State University, Psychology)
- Zhong-Lin Lu (Ohio State University, Psychology)
- Stuart Mangel (Ohio State University, Neuroscience)
- Teng Leng Ooi (Ohio State University, Optometry)
- Richard Samuels (Ohio State University, Philosophy)
- Lisa Shabel (Ohio State University, Philosophy)
- Vladimir Sloutsky (Ohio State University, Psychology)
- William Warren (Brown University, Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences)
- Wayne Wu (Carnegie Mellon University, Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition)
In addition to the individuals named above, the workshop was attended by many graduate students, post-docs, and faculty members from the sponsoring departments of Philosophy and Psychology, and the Center for Cognitive and Brain Sciences at the Ohio State University.
Conference Program
All sessions on both days were in Room 035 of the
Psychology Building
on the
Columbus campus
of the Ohio State University.
The program is printed in the
Conference Brochure and also below.
Each session consisted of 45-minute talk followed by 30 minutes of discussion.
The abstracts are available as a separate page.
Video recordings of most of the talks are available on
OnNeuro and are posted on their
YouTube channel.
Special thanks to
Paul Scotti for making the recordings and posting them on-line.
Friday 15 February 2019
- 9:00 - 9:15: Breakfast and opening remarks
- 9:15 - 10:30: Susanna Schellenberg: Constancy, Variance, and Situation-Dependent Properties
- 10:45 - 12:00: Petrov, Smithies, & Yu: A New Puzzle about the Visual Appearance of Space
- 12:00 - 1:30: Lunch break
- 1:30 - 2:45: Julie Golomb: Representations of 2D and 3D Spatial Location in the Brain
- 3:00 - 4:15: Carl Granrud: Development of Visual Size Constancy in Children: Testing Three Theories
- 4:30 - 5:45: Gary Hatfield: Phenomenally Converging Railway Tracks: A Misperception?
Saturday 16 February 2019
- 9:00 - 9:15: Breakfast
- 9:15 - 10:30: James Todd: Is there a consistent geometry of visual space?
- 10:45 - 12:00: Jan Koenderink: Visual Spaces and Less
- 12:00 - 1:30: Lunch break
- 1:30 - 2:45: E. J. Green: Spatial Functionalism, Vision Science, and the Prospects for Anti-Skepticism
- 3:00 - 4:15: Farid Masrour: The Geometry of the Visual Field and its Philosophical Significance
- 4:30 - 5:45: Mark Wagner: Putting the Geometries of Visual Space into Perspective
Food and Drink
Breakfast and coffee will be provided at the conference. Snacks and coffee can also be purchased at the following locations close to the Psychology Building:
- Berry Café, Thompson Library, 1858 Neil Avenue Mall
- Brenen's Café, 460 West 12th Avenue, Suite 120
- Courtside Café and Juice2, RPAC, 337 Annie and John Glen Avenue
Lunch will not be provided at the conference, but you are encouraged to join us for lunch at one of the following locations:
- Bibibop Asian Grill, 1778 North High Street
- Brenen's Café, 460 West 12th Avenue, Suite 120
- Heirloom Café, Wexner Center, 1871 North High Street
- Moy's Chinese Restaurant, 1994 North High Street
There will be a workshop dinner by invitation on Friday 15 February at 6:30pm at
Hong Kong House Szechuan restaurant, 1831 West Henderson Road.
There will also be an informal dinner by invitation after the workshop on Saturday 16 February at 6:30pm at
Paulie Gee's pizzeria, 1195 North High Street.
Travel, Accommodation, and Entertainment
All visiting speakers are booked for 3 nights from 14 January at
the Blackwell Inn, 2110 Tuttle Park Place, Columbus, OH 43210, tel. 614-247-4000.
The hotel is conveniently located within 10-minute walking distance to the
Psychology Building.
There is a free shuttle from the John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH) to the Blackwell Inn, which can be booked in advance. More information is available at their transportation page. A taxi ride from the airport takes approximately 20 minutes and $40. For visitors driving a vehicle, the public parking that is closest to the Psychology Building is the 12th Avenue garage (340 W 12th Ave). Neil Avenue garage (1801 Neil Ave) is even closer but is open to visitors only on weekends and after 4 pm on weekdays.
In addition to the Blackwell Inn, many other hotel and lodging options are available near the OSU campus. For more information, you may want to search ExperienceColumbus.com/hotels/near-osu/ or OhioStateUniversityHotels.com.
Columbus is the largest, fastest-growing, and capital city of the state of Ohio. It's the 15th largest city in the United States and is booming with energy and excitement. Follow the links below to explore on your own:
Registration and Contact Information
Registration for the workshop is now closed.
Please address any questions to Alex Petrov (petrov.11 [at] osu [dot] edu) and Declan Smithies (smithies.2 [at] osu [dot] edu).
