Search for objects based on external cues from the objects independently of one’s body position or locations of previous successful searches for the objects. Also referred to as allocentric spatial coding. Animal studies have shown that the dorsalateral prefrontal cortex mediates this sort of spatial cognition. In contrast, egocentric search involves a viewer-centered (or self-referential), rather than an object-centered, frame of reference. At least in terms of the neural systems involved, findings from animal studies caution against a rigid distinction between these two types of spatial cognition, one that has probably arisen from the persisting tendency to treat perception and action as separate domains. In addition, there have also been challenges to the widely accepted view that spatial development in the first year involves a qualitative shift from use of an egocentric frame of reference to an allocentric one.
See Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), Entorhinal cortex, Relative distance, Search errors in infancy, Two visual systems hypothesis