APA Dictionary of Psychology

the ability of a moving person to mentally update the locations of objects initially seen, heard, or touched from a different observation point. This cognitive process is crucial for maintaining perceptual stability despite gross and frequent displacements of space following saccadic eye movements (see saccade) and other activities. It is an extraordinarily complex phenomenon involving several neural structures, including the hippocampus, the parieto-occipital sulcus, the precuneus, and posterior areas of the parietal cortex. See also spatial cognition.