Abstract: The quantification of space as the basis of spacial perception, is associated with particular spacial characteristics. Discrete magnitude and continuous quantity reflect the discrete and continuous characteristics of space, respectively. Similar behavioral effects and overlapped neural representations were found in the both processes. Evidences from behavioral and neural researches suggested that there may be a common characterization of the two types of magnitude, namely analog magnitude representation. Furthermore, number-space mappings provided a direct evidence for relationships of number and space. However, there are still many mysteries in the domain of spacial quantification now, such as the dynamic representation of spacial quantification, the pervasiveness of quantitative mechanism, the problem of anchor point, the quantification of complex and multi-dimentional space, and so on. Future studies should make a more profound answer to the mental representation of spacial characteristics, within the framework of embodied cognition.

Key words: quantification, space, continuous quantity, discrete magnitude, number-space mappings