We generally seem to agree that we have an "inner map" that we can
fall back on in cases where we have inadequate momentary information
about the tasks at hand. Such an "inner map" can be said to provide
something like "virtual perceptions" that are used instead of, or in
addition to, real time perceptions that are either unavailable momen-
tarily (in this case we speak of "memory"), or that have not been
available before (in that case we speak of "imagination"). Both memory
and imagination are means that provide predictions about (relations
in) the world that can be used to guide our actions. Neither memory
nor imagination are infallible tools; both assume (near) constancy in
the way the world functions.
It is difficult to get a good intuitive appreciation of this concept
of an "inner map", except maybe in cases where the inner map resembles
a real map, i.e. stores geographical information. Animal experiments
have given us some insights into what the inner map is used for. Bees
are popular subjects.
An experiment. A colony of bees has lived in its environment for a
long time, so the bees may be supposed to be pretty familiar with
their surroundings. In a meadow, a few hundred yards away, a bowl of
sugar water is placed. After a few days, this sugar water has become
one of the regular feeding places. Now, when a group of bees is feed-
ing on the sugar water, they are kidnapped and transported to another
location, hundreds of yards away. This new location ought to be recog-
nizable to the bees, since it is not too far away from their home
base, bees have been observed there, and, moreover, it is surrounded
by some very characteristically looking trees. Now what do you suppose
the bees are going to do when released? Think about it for a moment.
One choice might be to fly back to the hive and stay there, maybe
until other bees signal about the sugar water. Another choice might be
to fly back to the hive and then immediately set course for the sugar
water. A third choice -- which proves to be the correct one -- is that
the bees will immediately upon their release take a direct course to-
wards the sugar water. In this case, the inner map therefore provides
a gradient or trajectory from "I am here" to "I want to be there". One
can assume that the bees never followed that path before. Yet, now
they take it, and successfully. Since bees can fly, they can take any
trajectory, of course, although on their way they will need direct
perceptions to navigate around trees and bushes.
Another, more complex experiment. Bees generally avoid large bodies of
water because they do not provide food sources. Yet, the experimenters
created a small artificial island in a nearby lake, where they put a
bowl of sugar water. They then observed what would happen. A few (very
adventurous?) bees discovered the sugar water nevertheless. They were
marked with a small black spot on their bodies and allowed to return
to the hive. There, they were observed to signal to others, as bees
use to do, the direction and distance of the place where they found
food. However, other bees were observed not to follow these direct-
ions; they were simply ignored. In this case, too, it seems that the
inner map is consulted in an effort to combine or reconcile different
perceptions. The inner map seems to say: "there cannot be food in the
lake", whereas the immediate perceptions say: "this fellow says that
there is food in the lake". Combining these two must produce an out-
come: the signaler was obviously taken to be a fool or a joker. Any-
way, the inner map prevailed.
(I do not have references for the above. Last weekend I found these
stories in a popular -- generally reliable -- German magazine that had
a lead article about how animals "think". The article did mention some
names of researchers and institutions, but I do not remember those.)
Greetings,
Hans