关键词: 空距离–空时距, 实距离–实时距, 量值理论, 隐喻理论, 顶叶

Abstract: Two theoretical proposals concerning the relationship between temporal and spatial distance processing are evaluated. On the one hand, under blank distance-blank duration condition and among animal reseaches, variations in spatial distance influence processing of time to the same degree that variations in time influence judgments of spatial distance.The symmetric interference between time and space is affected by attention and memory. On the other hand, under full distance-full duration context, although spatial distance processing interfers time estimation, the latter has no effect on the former. Thereby the interference is asymmetrical. The cross dimensional asymmetry is based on theories of metaphorical mental representation, sensorimotor experience, and the salience of time or space information. Findings from brain mechanism indicate that processing of temporal and spatial distance are related to right parietal cortex, lateral intraparietal area, left parietal cortex, cerebellum as well as prefrontal cortex. However, the neural mechanisms responsible for these two processes are not exactlly the same. Future trends will benefit from the following topics, including segmentation of temporal processing, the mental mechanism and neural substrate of temporal and spatial distance processing in different conditions.

Key words: empty distance-empty duration, filled distance-filled duration, a theory of magnitude, metaphor theory, parietal cortex