A perceptual map is a representation of one’s immediate environment that one creates as one moves about in the environment. With it, one could immediately point to things out of sight, or know one’s current position in the environment. In short, it is a description of the spatial layout of things in one’s surrounding, using a global co-ordinate system centered either on the self or an arbitrary part of the environment. As the perceptual map is intended to describe the spatial layout of one’s immediate surroundings, it is not intended as a representation for one’s total experience.
Nonetheless, robotics researchers have developed algorithms for computing a perceptual map for the entire environment explored by the robot and these environments can still be quite large. Their algorithms are probabilistic in nature and their aim is to allow the robots to simultaneously localize and map the environment [1]. Hence, they refer to their problem as a SLAM problem. They argue that the standard state-space approach to SLAM is well understood, and future key challenges lie in developing larger, more persuasive demonstrations which involve mapping a city or structures such as the Barrier Reef or the Mars surface. However, the fundamental question is how nature solves the mapping problem of one's own environment. In particular, we ask: do humans (and animals) employ a SLAM-like algorithm to map their environment? If not, why not and what would their algorithm be like?
Nonetheless, robotics researchers have developed algorithms for computing a perceptual map for the entire environment explored by the robot and these environments can still be quite large. Their algorithms are probabilistic in nature and their aim is to allow the robots to simultaneously localize and map the environment [1]. Hence, they refer to their problem as a SLAM problem. They argue that the standard state-space approach to SLAM is well understood, and future key challenges lie in developing larger, more persuasive demonstrations which involve mapping a city or structures such as the Barrier Reef or the Mars surface. However, the fundamental question is how nature solves the mapping problem of one's own environment. In particular, we ask: do humans (and animals) employ a SLAM-like algorithm to map their environment? If not, why not and what would their algorithm be like?
