Topology and Mental Processes

Abstract

The study reported here considers the effect of rotation on the decision time taken to compare nonrigid objects, presented as like and unlike pairs of knots and unknots. The results for 48 subjects, 21 to 45 years old, support the notion that images which have a characteristic 'foundation part' are more easily stored and accessed in the brain. Also, there is evidence that the comparison of deformable objects is processed by mental strategies other than self-evident mental rotation.

'A Wonderful Lot of Chaps': Observations on New Zealand Army Culture in War Letters from Rod to Molly McLeay, 1940-1942

“….' 53 Rod enjoyed putting at least one senior officer at a disadvantage. After an episode described below (when the men ate all the food, leaving none for the officers), the Major marched half the Company back, while Rod took the remainder, marching by compass.…”

“…Off to the new camp, where 'our quarters are excellent and the table tip-top', but Rod expressed his disappointment that the course had been reduced from five to three weeks. 86 He went on to describe the course, his wonderful 'native servant batman', and his social life, which included a formal dinner in the home of a British minister (politician), all in some detail. He found the course itself fairly easy, although at one stage he said that one of his reports had commented that he was ' "still shy"!!'…”