We are pleased to introduce the Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Spatial Cognition: Cognition and Action in a Plurality of Spaces (ICSC 2021).

Due to the uncertainties related to the pandemics, we had to convert ICSC 2021 in an online event only. We would have much preferred to welcome you as usually in Rome, but we are confident that the virtual format will prove to provide some advantages and new opportunities.

In preparing ICSC 2021, we could count on the support of ECONA – Interuniversity Center for Research on Cognitive Processing in Natural and Artificial Systems, of the Department of Psychology at the Sapienza University of Rome, and of the numerous colleagues and friends who accepted our invitation to be part of the ICSC 2021 Scientific Committee and the ICSC 2021 Organizing Committee. Furthermore, we are particularly honored and pleased about the support of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.

We received altogether more than 200 abstracts by researchers from more than 30 countries in all continents except Antarctica. In addition, 9 highly renowned international researchers accepted our invitation to give a keynote lecture and to contribute a short paper to the ICSC 2021 conference proceedings. Seven of these keynote papers were submitted in time to be included in the conference proceedings; the remaining two will be included in a forthcoming regular issue of this journal.

In addition to the seven keynote papers, the main part of the conference proceedings is a paper with the abstracts and authors of all conference contributions. The abstracts are presented by type of contribution (Keynotes, Symposia, Talks, and Poster) and in numerical order, according to their submission ID. The authors are listed in alphabetical order, and for each author, reference is made to the type and submission ID of their contribution(s).

The conference program as well as further information on the conference is available on the conference website: http://www.icsc-rome.org.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who contributed to the realization of ICSC 2021. Our special thanks go to the nine keynote lecturers, who extend the by now well-established tradition of highest-level keynote lecturers at the ICSC conferences and whose thoughtful and inspiring contributions aptly illustrate the topic of ICSC 2021.


ICSC 2021 Presidential Board


Tiziana Catarci, Fabrizio Doricchi, Thomas Hünefeldt, Marta Olivetti Belardinelli, Antonino Raffone.


ICSC 2021 Scientific Committee


Gladys Nyarko Ansah (Accra), Antonio Jesus Bandera Rubio (Malaga), Yan Bao (Beijing), Anna Belardinelli (Offenbach), Paolo Belardinelli (Trento), Anna Borghi (Rome), Fabiano Botta (Paris), Riccardo Brunetti (Rome), Matteo Candidi (Rome), Salvatore Chiarella (Rome), Alessandro D’Ausilio (Pavia), Franco Delogu (Detroit), Michel Denis (Paris), Fabrizio Doricchi (Rome), Antonino Esposito (Rome), Stefano Federici (Perugia), Martin H. Fischer (Potsdam), Ken Forbus (Evanston), Joanna Ganczarek (Kraków), Dedre Gentner (Evanston), Sergei Gepshtein (Los Angeles), Klaus Gramann (Berlin), Stephen Hirtle (Pittsburgh), Tina Iachini (Naples), Alexander Klippel (State College), Stefano Lasaponara (Rome), Daniele Nardi (Charleston), Davide Nardo (Cambridge), Nora Newcombe (Philadelphia), Massimiliano Palmiero (Bergamo), Tina Pastorelli (Rome), Francesca Pazzaglia (Padua), Ernst Pöppel (Munich), Albert Postma (Utrecht), Anne Reboul (Lyon), Valerio Santangelo (Perugia), Marcia Scherer (Syracuse), Annika Schlitte (Greifswald), Luca Simione (Rome), Barbara Tversky (Stanford), David Uttal (Evanston), Cees van Leeuwen (Leuven).


ICSC 2021 Organizing Committee


Matteo Carpi, Salvatore Chiarella, Cristian Costanzo, Antonino Esposito, Skaiste Kerusauskaite, Maria Laura Mele, Roberta Meloni.

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