Mental imagery provides insights that contribute to effective problem solving techniques.
Dr. Glasgow's research concentrates on the design and implementation of a knowledge representation scheme for computational imagery. This scheme includes primitive functions for constructing, transforming and interpreting image representations, that can be incorporated in a variety of problem solving applications including pattern recognition, classification, game playing, motion planning and scene analysis. A related interdisciplinary project, which involves collaboration with computer scientists, mathematicians, crystallographers and biochemists at Queen's and elsewhere, is currently underway to carry out molecular scene analysis. This project integrates fundamental research in the areas of computational imagery, crystallography and molecular database analysis to develop a knowledge-based system for the determination and interpretation of crystal structures. The process of determining the structure of a crystal is likened to an iterative scene analysis, which draws from the long-term memory of structural motifs and the application of chemical and crystallographic rules.