Innate ideas/concepts

Consider an embodied agent with an array of thermistors spread over its body. A localized external heat source might activate sensors A and B and later B and C, C and D, etc. From this experience the agent might acquire the notion that A is “near” B but “far” from C and that B is “near” C but “far” from D, etc. This might constitute a primitive model of space.With a moving or time varying heat source sequential activation of the sensors in the array might produce a primitive model of time. Sensors deep within the body would be less sensitive to external stimulus than sensors on the surface (“skin”) producing a notion of “inside” and “outside.”