Spring mvc controllers - parameter binding

I am reading Spring in action, and now I am at the chapter about building web application, but I can't fully grasp one thing

If for example we have method like this:

@RequestMapping(method=RequestMethod.GET, params="new")
public String createSpitterProfile(Model model) {
  model.addAttribute(new Spitter());
  return "spitters/edit";
}

here we are adding instance of the Spitter class to the model, so it is passed to this form

<div>
<h2>Create a free Spitter account</h2>

<sf:form method="POST" modelAttribute="spitter" 
    enctype="multipart/form-data">         
  <fieldset> 
  <table cellspacing="0">
  <tr>
    <th><sf:label path="fullName">Full name:</sf:label></th>
    <td><sf:input path="fullName" size="15" /><br/>
    <sf:errors path="fullName" cssClass="error" />
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th><sf:label path="username">Username:</sf:label></th>
    <td><sf:input path="username" size="15" maxlength="15" />
      <small id="username_msg">No spaces, please.</small><br/>
    <sf:errors path="username" cssClass="error" />

    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th><sf:label path="password">Password:</sf:label></th>
    <td><sf:password path="password" size="30" 
            showPassword="true"/> 
    <small>6 characters or more (be tricky!)</small><br/>
    <sf:errors path="password" cssClass="error" />
    </td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <th><sf:label path="email">Email Address:</sf:label></th>

    <td><sf:input path="email" size="30"/> 
    <small>In case you forget something</small><br/>
    <sf:errors path="email" cssClass="error" />
    </td>
  </tr>
  <!--<start id="image_field"/>--> 
  <tr>
    <th><label for="image">Profile image:</label></th>
    <td><input name="image" type="file"/>
  </tr>
  <!--<end id="image_field"/>--> 
  <tr>
    <th></th>
    <td>
    <sf:checkbox path="updateByEmail"/>
    <sf:label path="updateByEmail" 
    >Send me email updates!</sf:label>

    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th></th>
    <td><input name="commit" type="submit" 
        value="I accept. Create my account." /></td>
  </tr>
  </table>
</fieldset>
</sf:form>
</div>

after user inputs his data, those input data will be binded to some Spitter object and will be processed by

    @RequestMapping(method=RequestMethod.POST)
public String addSpitterFromForm(@Valid Spitter spitter, 
BindingResult bindingResult,
@RequestParam(value="image", required=false) MultipartFile image) {

  if(bindingResult.hasErrors()) {
return "spitters/edit";
  } 

  spitterService.saveSpitter(spitter);

  try {
if(!image.isEmpty()) {
  validateImage(image);
  saveImage(spitter.getId() + ".jpg", image);
}
  } catch (ImageUploadException e) {
bindingResult.reject(e.getMessage());
return "spitters/edit";
  }

  return "redirect:/spitters/" + spitter.getUsername();
}  

I passed some object to the model that will be populated, but I am interested how does this work a bit under the hood, because when the page is served to the user, the information about the object is lost (or I am wrong)?

1.Does the object that is added in createSpitterProfile is the same (same meaning reference) as the Spitter object in the addSpitterFromForm or is the second one created by the Spring on the fly when the requested with data comes?

2.When the user input is coming in the request to the addSpitterFromForm, how does Spring know that the information from the form should be processed to the Spitter object, I know that there is Spitter object in the method signature, but how does Spring know that the data should populate this object properties.