For more than 100 years we have known that the visual field is mapped onto the surface of visual cortex, imposing an inherently spatial reference frame on visual information processing. Recent studies highlight visuospatial coding not only throughout visual cortex, but also brain areas not typically considered visual. Such widespread access to visuospatial coding raises important questions about its role in wider cognitive functioning. Here, we synthesise these recent developments and propose that visuospatial coding scaffolds human cognition by providing a reference frame through which neural computations interface with environmental statistics and task demands via perception–action loops.

100 多年来，我们已经知道视野被映射到视觉皮层的表面，为视觉信息处理强加了一个固有的空间参考框架。最近的研究不仅强调了整个视觉皮层的视觉空间编码，而且还强调了通常不被认为是视觉的大脑区域。这种对视觉空间编码的广泛访问引发了关于其在更广泛的认知功能中的作用的重要问题。在这里，我们综合了这些最近的发展，并提出视觉空间编码通过提供一个参考框架来支持人类认知，通过该框架，神经计算通过感知-动作循环与环境统计和任务需求接口。