An exciting new line of research that investigates the impact of one’s own hands on visual processing has flourished in the past several years. Specifically, several studies have demonstrated that objects near the hands receive prioritized attention, enhanced perceptual sensitivity, altered figure-ground assignment, prolonged and detail-oriented processing, and improved visual working memory. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the visual system reveals a new pattern of processing when one's hands are in proximity of viewed objects. Therefore, the vast majority of studies on visual processing, in which one's hands are kept away from the stimuli, may constitute but one side of a more complex story of the inner workings of the visual system. With several consistent behavioral demonstrations of hand-altered vision now in the literature, the present challenge facing this growing field, and the aim of this Research Topic, is four-pronged: 1) Isolate and elucidate the underlying cognitive and neural mechanisms of hand-altered vision; 2) Map the parameters and conditions of hand-nearness that permit/prevent the onset or maintenance of hand-altered vision; 3) Determine the consequences of hand-altered vision for higher-level cognition and assess its applied potential (e.g., as a neuropsychological intervention); and, 4) Present a cohesive and predictive theoretical account of hand-altered vision. We welcome submissions that fit into any one (or a combination) of the above domains. For behavioral research, we particularly encourage submissions that are relevant to the advancement of our understanding of the neural mechanisms of hand-altered vision (e.g., demonstrations that might corroborate or disconfirm proposed neural systems).

An exciting new line of research that investigates the impact of one's own hands on visual processing has flourished in the past several years. Specifically, several studies have demonstrated that objects near the hands receive prioritized attention, enhanced perceptual sensitivity, altered figure-ground assignment, prolonged and detail-oriented processing, and improved visual working memory. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the visual system reveals a new pattern of processing when one's hands are in proximity of viewed objects. Therefore, the vast majority of studies on visual processing, in which one's hands are kept away from the stimuli, may constitute but one side of a more complex story of the inner workings of the visual system. With several consistent behavioral demonstrations of hand-altered vision now in the literature, the present challenge facing this growing field, and the aim of this Research Topic, is four-pronged: 1) Isolate and elucidate the underlying cognitive and neural mechanisms of hand-altered vision; 2) Map the parameters and conditions of hand-nearness that permit/prevent the onset or maintenance of hand-altered vision; 3) Determine the consequences of hand-altered vision for higher-level cognition and assess its applied potential (e.g., as a neuropsychological intervention); and, 4) Present a cohesive and predictive theoretical account of hand-altered vision. We welcome submissions that fit into any one (or a combination) of the above domains. For behavioral research, we particularly encourage submissions that are relevant to the advancement of our understanding of the neural mechanisms of hand-altered vision (e.g., demonstrations that might corroborate or disconfirm proposed neural systems).

The Cognitive Foundations of Classical Sociological Theory explores the role that understandings of mind and brain played in the development of sociological theory. It isolates five key authors in the classical tradition and comprehensively explores their oeuvres for moments where they reflect on, engage with, and build from topics related to cognition, placing their work in contact with research today to critically determine areas of relevance, refutation, or revision. Showing how understandings of mind, brain, and body grounded the production of early sociological thought, the book draws attention to the foundational role theories of cognition played in the emergence of sociology as a distinct field of study. With chapters on Comte, Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Mead, The Cognitive Foundations of Classical Sociological Theory constitutes a novel and timely engagement with canonical social theory, extending its application to contemporary social life. It will therefore appeal to scholars of sociology and psychology with interests in classical social theory, cognition, embodiment, and sociality.

This volume LNCS 14253 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Conference, ICVS 2023, in Vienna, Austria, in September 2023.. The 37 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 74 submissions. The conference focuses on Humans and Hands; Medical and Health Care; Farming and Forestry; Automation and Manufacturing; Mobile Robotics and Autonomous Systems; and Performance and Robustness.

Background: Interacting with other people involves spatial awareness of one’s own body and the other’s body and viewpoint. In the past, social cognition has focused largely on belief reasoning, which is abstracted away from spatial and bodily representations, while there is a strong tradition of work on spatial and object representation which does not consider social interactions. These two domains have flourished independently. A small but growing body of research examines how awareness of space and body relates to the ability to interpret and interact with others. This also builds on the growing awareness that many cognitive processes are embodied, which could be of relevance for the integration of the social and spatial domains: Online mental transformations of spatial representations have been shown to rely on simulated body movements and various aspects of social interaction have been related to the simulation of a conspecific’s behaviour within the observer’s bodily repertoire. Both dimensions of embodied transformations or mappings seem to serve the purpose of establishing alignment between the observer and a target. In spatial cognition research the target is spatially defined as a particular viewpoint or frame of reference (FOR), yet, in social interaction research another viewpoint is occupied by another’s mind, which crucially requires perspective taking in the sense of considering what another person experiences from a different viewpoint. Perspective taking has been studied in different ways within developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, psycholinguistics, neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience over the last few decades, yet, integrative approaches for channelling all information into a unified account of perspective taking and viewpoint transformations have not been presented so far. Aims: This Research Topic aims to bring together the social and the spatial, and to highlight findings and methods which can unify research across areas. In particular, the topic aims to advance our current theories and set the stage for future developments of the field by clarifying and linking theoretical concepts across disciplines. Scope: The focus of this Research Topic is on the SPATIAL and the SOCIAL, and we anticipate that all submissions will touch on both aspects and will explicitly attempt to bridge conceptual gaps. Social questions could include questions of how people judge another person’s viewpoint or spatial capacities, or how they imagine themselves from different points of view. Spatial questions could include consideration of different physical configurations of the body and the arrangement of different viewpoints, including mental rotation of objects or viewpoints that have social relevance. Questions could also relate to how individual differences (in personality, sex, development, culture, species etc.) influence or determine social and spatial perspective judgements. Many different methods can be used to explore perspective taking, including mental chronometry, behavioural tasks, EEG/MEG and fMRI, child development, neuropsychological patients, virtual reality and more. Bringing together results and approaches from these different domains is a key aim of this Research Topic. We welcome submissions of experimental papers, reviews and theory papers which cover these topics.