Behavioral and Brain Sciences



Short Communication

The mathematics of symmetry does not provide an appropriate model for the human understanding of elementary motions


John R. Pani a1
a1 Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292 jrpani@louisville.edu http://www.louisville.edu/~jrpani01/

Abstract

Shepard's article presents an impressive application of the mathematics of symmetry to the understanding of motion. However, there are basic psychological phenomena that the model does not handle well. These include the importance of the orientations of rotational motions to salient reference systems for the understanding of the motions. An alternative model of the understanding of rotations is sketched. [Shepard]