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Prabhakar A, Grison E, Lhuillier S, Leprévost F, Gyselinck V, Morgagni S. Transport makes cities: transit maps as major cognitive frames of metropolitan areas. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2024; 88:1060-1080. [PMID: 38305865 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-023-01925-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2023] [Accepted: 12/28/2023] [Indexed: 02/03/2024]
Abstract
Spatial representations play a fundamental role in navigation, decision-making, and overall interaction with our environments. Understanding how individuals construct and use them holds significant importance in spatial cognition research, and even bears practical implications for urban planning as it can explain how we interact with the spaces we inhabit. In large urban areas, transit maps stand as prominent visual aids, guiding people through public transportation systems. These maps, while designed for navigational purposes, may influence how individuals perceive and represent their cities. For instance, Vertesi (Social Studies of Science 38:09-35, 2008) showed through a series of interviews including a "sketch mapping" phase, that London Tube Map seems to structure residents' spatial representation of their city. However, thorough quantitative research on this subject have not been carried out yet. Two experimental studies have been conducted to demonstrate how residents' representations of metropolitan areas closely resemble the schematic representations of their public transport networks. First, we show that residents of Greater Paris-public and private transport users alike-plot city landmarks in a layout more closely resembling that of the Parisian transit map than the geographical map. Next, we asked Greater Berlin, London and Paris residents to place landmarks of their cities on different map backgrounds. A similar procedure was followed for landmarks from an unknown city, after a dedicated learning phase. For known cities, the sketch maps produced were closer to transit maps than to the geographical ones, although less so if the test map background presented topographical elements (e.g., rivers, etc.). For learnt cities, participants' sketch maps were almost exclusively dependent on the map provided during the learning phase. These results suggest that familiarity with transit maps has a direct impact on the metric properties of spatial representation in memory, a phenomenon we propose to call the 'schema effect'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Archana Prabhakar
- Direction de la Recherche, SNCF, La Plaine Saint-Denis, France
- LaPEA, Université Paris Cité &, Université Gustave Eiffel, Versailles, France
| | - Elise Grison
- Direction de la Recherche, SNCF, La Plaine Saint-Denis, France
| | - Simon Lhuillier
- LaPEA, Université Paris Cité &, Université Gustave Eiffel, Versailles, France
| | | | - Valérie Gyselinck
- LaPEA, Université Paris Cité &, Université Gustave Eiffel, Versailles, France
| | - Simone Morgagni
- Direction de la Recherche, SNCF, La Plaine Saint-Denis, France.
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2
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Chen Y, Xu H, Chen X(M, Gao Z. A multi-scale unified model of human mobility in urban agglomerations. PATTERNS (NEW YORK, N.Y.) 2023; 4:100862. [PMID: 38035194 PMCID: PMC10682749 DOI: 10.1016/j.patter.2023.100862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2023] [Revised: 09/01/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 12/02/2023]
Abstract
Understanding human mobility patterns is vital for the coordinated development of cities in urban agglomerations. Existing mobility models can capture single-scale travel behavior within or between cities, but the unified modeling of multi-scale human mobility in urban agglomerations is still analytically and computationally intractable. In this study, by simulating people's mental representations of physical space, we decompose and model the human travel choice process as a cascaded multi-class classification problem. Our multi-scale unified model, built upon cascaded deep neural networks, can predict human mobility in world-class urban agglomerations with thousands of regions. By incorporating individual memory features and population attractiveness features extracted by a graph generative adversarial network, our model can simultaneously predict multi-scale individual and population mobility patterns within urban agglomerations. Our model serves as an exemplar framework for reproducing universal-scale laws of human mobility across various spatial scales, providing vital decision support for urban settings of urban agglomerations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yong Chen
- Institute of Intelligent Transportation Systems, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Haoge Xu
- Institute of Intelligent Transportation Systems, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Xiqun (Michael) Chen
- Institute of Intelligent Transportation Systems, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
- Zhejiang University/University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (ZJU-UIUC) Institute, Haining 314400, China
| | - Ziyou Gao
- School of Systems Science, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
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3
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Parra-Barrero E, Vijayabaskaran S, Seabrook E, Wiskott L, Cheng S. A map of spatial navigation for neuroscience. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 152:105200. [PMID: 37178943 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2023] [Revised: 04/13/2023] [Accepted: 04/24/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
Spatial navigation has received much attention from neuroscientists, leading to the identification of key brain areas and the discovery of numerous spatially selective cells. Despite this progress, our understanding of how the pieces fit together to drive behavior is generally lacking. We argue that this is partly caused by insufficient communication between behavioral and neuroscientific researchers. This has led the latter to under-appreciate the relevance and complexity of spatial behavior, and to focus too narrowly on characterizing neural representations of space-disconnected from the computations these representations are meant to enable. We therefore propose a taxonomy of navigation processes in mammals that can serve as a common framework for structuring and facilitating interdisciplinary research in the field. Using the taxonomy as a guide, we review behavioral and neural studies of spatial navigation. In doing so, we validate the taxonomy and showcase its usefulness in identifying potential issues with common experimental approaches, designing experiments that adequately target particular behaviors, correctly interpreting neural activity, and pointing to new avenues of research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eloy Parra-Barrero
- Institute for Neural Computation, Faculty of Computer Science, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany; International Graduate School of Neuroscience, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Sandhiya Vijayabaskaran
- Institute for Neural Computation, Faculty of Computer Science, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Eddie Seabrook
- Institute for Neural Computation, Faculty of Computer Science, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Laurenz Wiskott
- Institute for Neural Computation, Faculty of Computer Science, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany; International Graduate School of Neuroscience, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Sen Cheng
- Institute for Neural Computation, Faculty of Computer Science, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany; International Graduate School of Neuroscience, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
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4
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Schmidt V, König SU, Dilawar R, Sánchez Pacheco T, König P. Improved Spatial Knowledge Acquisition through Sensory Augmentation. Brain Sci 2023; 13:brainsci13050720. [PMID: 37239192 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13050720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2023] [Revised: 04/13/2023] [Accepted: 04/20/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Sensory augmentation provides novel opportunities to broaden our knowledge of human perception through external sensors that record and transmit information beyond natural perception. To assess whether such augmented senses affect the acquisition of spatial knowledge during navigation, we trained a group of 27 participants for six weeks with an augmented sense for cardinal directions called the feelSpace belt. Then, we recruited a control group that did not receive the augmented sense and the corresponding training. All 53 participants first explored the Westbrook virtual reality environment for two and a half hours spread over five sessions before assessing their spatial knowledge in four immersive virtual reality tasks measuring cardinal, route, and survey knowledge. We found that the belt group acquired significantly more accurate cardinal and survey knowledge, which was measured in pointing accuracy, distance, and rotation estimates. Interestingly, the augmented sense also positively affected route knowledge, although to a lesser degree. Finally, the belt group reported a significant increase in the use of spatial strategies after training, while the groups' ratings were comparable at baseline. The results suggest that six weeks of training with the feelSpace belt led to improved survey and route knowledge acquisition. Moreover, the findings of our study could inform the development of assistive technologies for individuals with visual or navigational impairments, which may lead to enhanced navigation skills and quality of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincent Schmidt
- Neurobiopsychology Group, Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Wachsbleiche 27, 49090 Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Sabine U König
- Neurobiopsychology Group, Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Wachsbleiche 27, 49090 Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Rabia Dilawar
- Neurobiopsychology Group, Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Wachsbleiche 27, 49090 Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Tracy Sánchez Pacheco
- Neurobiopsychology Group, Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Wachsbleiche 27, 49090 Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Peter König
- Neurobiopsychology Group, Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Wachsbleiche 27, 49090 Osnabrück, Germany
- Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
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5
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Krukar J, Navas Medrano S, Schwering A. Route effects in city-based survey knowledge estimates. Cogn Process 2023; 24:213-231. [PMID: 36689073 PMCID: PMC10110726 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-022-01122-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2022] [Accepted: 12/02/2022] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
When studying wayfinding in urban environments, researchers are often interested in obtaining measures of participants' survey knowledge, i.e., their estimate of distant locations relative to other places. Previous work showed that distance estimations are consistently biased when no direct route is available to the queried target or when participants follow a detour. Here we investigated whether a corresponding bias is manifested in two other popular measures of survey knowledge: a pointing task and a sketchmapping task. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is a systematic bias in pointing/sketchmapping performance associated with the preferred route choice in an applied urban setting. The results were mixed. We found moderate evidence for the presence of a systematic bias, but only for a subset of urban locations. When two plausible routes to the target were available, survey knowledge estimates were significantly biased in the direction of the route chosen by the participant. When only one plausible route was available, we did not find a statistically significant pattern. The results may have methodological implications for spatial cognition studies in applied urban settings that might be obtaining systematically biased survey knowledge estimates at some urban locations. Researchers should be aware that the choice of urban locations from which pointing and sketchmapping are performed might systematically distort the results, in particular when two plausible but diverging routes to the target are visible from the location.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jakub Krukar
- Institute for Geoinformatics, University of Muenster, Heisenbergstr. 2, 48149, Muenster, Germany.
| | - Samuel Navas Medrano
- Institute for Geoinformatics, University of Muenster, Heisenbergstr. 2, 48149, Muenster, Germany
| | - Angela Schwering
- Institute for Geoinformatics, University of Muenster, Heisenbergstr. 2, 48149, Muenster, Germany
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6
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Does path integration contribute to human navigation in large-scale space? Psychon Bull Rev 2022:10.3758/s13423-022-02216-8. [DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02216-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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7
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Distortions in Spatial Mental Representation Affect Sketch Maps in Young Adults. Neurol Int 2022; 14:771-783. [PMID: 36278688 PMCID: PMC9590050 DOI: 10.3390/neurolint14040064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2022] [Revised: 09/13/2022] [Accepted: 09/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans tend to misrepresent spatial information which leads to systematic errors due to distorted organizational processes regarding metric and positional judgments. This study is aimed at analyzing metric and positional distortions in cognitive maps by using external representations, namely sketch maps, in two experiments with young participants. In the first experiment, we use the sketching area of Northern Europe. In the second experiment, the University campus area was used. The first aim was to test the hypothesis that the presence of the sea between the triplet of landmarks generates an overestimation of the distances between them in the case of Northern Europe; and to test the hypothesis that the number of turns in a route influences the overestimation of the distance between landmarks in the case of the campus area. The second aim was to investigate alignment and rotation errors using the same maps. Concerning metric errors, the results showed the overestimation of distances with a geographical gap between the cities (the sea in the Northern European Area), and those with more turns between landmarks (the campus area). The results concerning rotations and alignments were in line with the previous research about positional errors. The present study extended findings on distortions in spatial mental representation as emerging from verbal judgments, to sketch maps: direct visuospatial external representations eluding the conversion into verbal coding of spatial information. The presence of distortions in cognitive maps could be considered the consequence of the encoding of spatial information.
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8
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Stock K, Jones CB, Tenbrink T. Speaking of location: a review of spatial language research. SPATIAL COGNITION AND COMPUTATION 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/13875868.2022.2095275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Kristin Stock
- Massey Geoinformatics Collaboratory, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
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9
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Lhuillier S, Piolino P, Nicolas S, Gyselinck V. EXPRESS: "Run to the hills": Specific contributions of anticipated energy expenditure during active spatial learning. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2022; 75:2287-2307. [PMID: 35018836 DOI: 10.1177/17470218221076533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Grounded views of cognition consider that space perception is shaped by the body and its potential for action. These views are substantiated by observations such as the distance-on-hill effect, described as the overestimation of visually perceived uphill distances. An interpretation of this phenomenon is that slanted distances are overestimated because of the integration of energy expenditure cues. The visual perceptual processes involved are however usually tackled through explicit estimation tasks in passive situations. The goal of this study was to consider instead more ecological active spatial processing. Using immersive virtual reality and an omnidirectional treadmill, we investigated the effect of anticipated implicit physical locomotion cost by comparing spatial learning for uphill and downhill routes, while maintaining actual physical cost and walking speed constant. In the first experiment, participants learnt city layouts by exploring uphill or downhill routes. They were then tested using a landmark positioning task on a map. In the second experiment, the same protocol was used with participants who wore loaded ankle weights. Results from the first experiment showed that walking uphill routes led to a global underestimation of distances compared to downhill routes. This inverted distance-of-hill effect was not observed in the second experiment, where an additional effort was applied. These results suggest that the underestimation of distances observed in experiment one emerged from recalibration processes whose function was to solve the transgression of proprioceptive predictions linked with uphill energy expenditure. Results are discussed in relation to constructivist approaches on spatial representations and predictive coding theories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Lhuillier
- LAPEA, Université Gustave Eiffel, IFSTTAR, F-7800 Versailles, France 27031.,Université de Paris, LAPEA, F-92000 Boulogne-Billancourt, France.,Université de Paris, MC2, F-92000 Boulogne-Billancourt, France
| | - Pascale Piolino
- Université de Paris, MC2, F-92000 Boulogne-Billancourt, France 555089
| | - Serge Nicolas
- Université de Paris, MC2, F-92000 Boulogne-Billancourt, France 555089.,Institut Universitaire de France (IUF)
| | - Valérie Gyselinck
- LAPEA, Université Gustave Eiffel, IFSTTAR, F-7800 Versailles, France 27031.,Université de Paris, LAPEA, F-92000 Boulogne-Billancourt, France
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10
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Griesbauer EM, Manley E, Wiener JM, Spiers HJ. London taxi drivers: A review of neurocognitive studies and an exploration of how they build their cognitive map of London. Hippocampus 2021; 32:3-20. [PMID: 34914151 DOI: 10.1002/hipo.23395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2021] [Revised: 10/14/2021] [Accepted: 11/05/2021] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Licensed London taxi drivers have been found to show changes in the gray matter density of their hippocampus over the course of training and decades of navigation in London (UK). This has been linked to their learning and using of the "Knowledge of London," the names and layout of over 26,000 streets and thousands of points of interest in London. Here we review past behavioral and neuroimaging studies of London taxi drivers, covering the structural differences in hippocampal gray matter density and brain dynamics associated with navigating London. We examine the process by which they learn the layout of London, detailing the key learning steps: systematic study of maps, travel on selected overlapping routes, the mental visualization of places and the optimal use of subgoals. Our analysis provides the first map of the street network covered by the routes used to learn the network, allowing insight into where there are gaps in this network. The methods described could be widely applied to aid spatial learning in the general population and may provide insights for artificial intelligence systems to efficiently learn new environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva-Maria Griesbauer
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK
| | - Ed Manley
- Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London, London, UK.,The Alan Turing Institute, London, UK.,School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Jan M Wiener
- Department of Psychology, Ageing and Dementia Research Centre, Bournemouth University, Poole, UK
| | - Hugo J Spiers
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK
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11
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Peer M, Epstein RA. The human brain uses spatial schemas to represent segmented environments. Curr Biol 2021; 31:4677-4688.e8. [PMID: 34473949 PMCID: PMC8578397 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.08.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2021] [Revised: 06/25/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Humans and animals use cognitive maps to represent the spatial structure of the environment. Although these maps are typically conceptualized as extending in an equipotential manner across known space, psychological evidence suggests that people mentally segment complex environments into subspaces. To understand the neurocognitive mechanisms behind this operation, we familiarized participants with a virtual courtyard that was divided into two halves by a river; we then used behavioral testing and fMRI to understand how spatial locations were encoded within this environment. Participants' spatial judgments and multivoxel activation patterns were affected by the division of the courtyard, indicating that the presence of a boundary can induce mental segmentation even when all parts of the environment are co-visible. In the hippocampus and occipital place area (OPA), the segmented organization of the environment manifested in schematic spatial codes that represented geometrically equivalent locations in the two subspaces as similar. In the retrosplenial complex (RSC), responses were more consistent with an integrated spatial map. These results demonstrate that people use both local spatial schemas and integrated spatial maps to represent segmented environment. We hypothesize that schematization may serve as a general mechanism for organizing complex knowledge structures in terms of their component elements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Peer
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 3710 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| | - Russell A Epstein
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 3710 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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12
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Widdowson C, Wang RF. Human navigation in curved spaces. Cognition 2021; 218:104923. [PMID: 34638034 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2021] [Revised: 09/27/2021] [Accepted: 09/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Navigation and representations of the spatial environment are central to human survival. It has often been debated whether spatial representations follow Euclidean principles, and a number of studies challenged the Euclidean hypothesis. Two experiments examined the geometry of human navigation system using true non-Euclidean environments, i.e., curved spaces with non-Euclidean geometry at every point of the space. Participants walked along two legs in an outbound journey, then pointed to the direction of the starting point (home). The homing behavior was examined in three virtual environments, Euclidean space, hyperbolic space, and spherical space. The results showed that people's responses matched the direction of Euclidean origin, regardless of the curvature of the space itself. Moreover, participants still responded as if the space were Euclidean when a learning period was added for them to explore the spatial properties of the environment before performing the homing task to ensure violations of Euclidean geometry were readily detected. These data suggest that the path integration / spatial updating system operates on Euclidean geometry, even when curvature violations are clearly present.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Widdowson
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 603 E. Daniel St., Champaign, IL 61820, United States
| | - Ranxiao Frances Wang
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 603 E. Daniel St., Champaign, IL 61820, United States; Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801, United States.
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13
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Newman PM, McNamara TP. Integration of visual landmark cues in spatial memory. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2021; 86:1636-1654. [PMID: 34420070 PMCID: PMC8380114 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-021-01581-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2021] [Accepted: 08/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Over the past two decades, much research has been conducted to investigate whether humans are optimal when integrating sensory cues during spatial memory and navigational tasks. Although this work has consistently demonstrated optimal integration of visual cues (e.g., landmarks) with body-based cues (e.g., path integration) during human navigation, little work has investigated how cues of the same sensory type are integrated in spatial memory. A few recent studies have reported mixed results, with some showing very little benefit to having access to more than one landmark, and others showing that multiple landmarks can be optimally integrated in spatial memory. In the current study, we employed a combination of immersive and non-immersive virtual reality spatial memory tasks to test adult humans' ability to integrate multiple landmark cues across six experiments. Our results showed that optimal integration of multiple landmark cues depends on the difficulty of the task, and that the presence of multiple landmarks can elicit an additional latent cue when estimating locations from a ground-level perspective, but not an aerial perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Phillip M Newman
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 301 Wilson Hall, 111 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN, 37212, USA.
| | - Timothy P McNamara
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 301 Wilson Hall, 111 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN, 37212, USA
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14
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Ishikawa T. Spatial thinking, cognitive mapping, and spatial awareness. Cogn Process 2021; 22:89-96. [PMID: 34313882 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-021-01046-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2021] [Accepted: 07/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
This article looks at wayfinding and spatial orientation as important everyday spatial thinking skills and discusses why some people have difficulty with the skills and how one can assist people with difficulty in navigation. It first clarifies the characteristics of human spatial cognition and behavior and the tendency of spatial knowledge to be distorted and fragmented in the environment. In particular, it emphasizes the existence of large individual differences in the skill of cognitive mapping, namely the accuracy of metric and configurational understanding of the environment. The article then looks at difficulties associated with the use of maps and description of spatial relations. Given these difficulties, the article discusses the possibilities of assisting people with mobile navigation tools and improving the skill of cognitive mapping by training in spatial orientation. Implications for the development of user-adapted and context-aware navigation assistance and the significance of research from an individual differences perspective are finally discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Toru Ishikawa
- Department of Information Networking for Innovation and Design (INIAD), Toyo University, 1-7-11 Akabanedai, Kita-ku, Tokyo, 115-8650, Japan.
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15
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Newman PM, Cox GE, McNamara TP. A computational cognitive model of judgments of relative direction. Cognition 2021; 209:104559. [PMID: 33388527 PMCID: PMC8205961 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2020] [Revised: 12/17/2020] [Accepted: 12/21/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
In the past several decades, considerable theoretical progress has been made in understanding the role of reference frames in the encoding and retrieval of spatial information about the environment. Many of these insights have come from participants making judgments of relative direction using their memories of spatial layouts. In this task, participants are asked to imagine standing at a given location and facing a certain direction, and to point to a target location. Although this task has been widely and productively used, a computational cognitive model of judgments of relative direction has yet to be introduced. Computational modeling of judgments of relative direction is a critical next step to formulating and testing hypotheses about the cognitive processes involved in establishing and using spatial reference frames. We present an initial attempt to model judgments of relative direction and fit the model to two datasets exhibiting behavioral patterns commonly observed in the spatial memory literature. The model was able to predict many important features of these data, most notably alignment effects. We discuss directions for future modeling efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Phillip M Newman
- Phillip M. Newman, Gregory E. Cox, and Timothy P. McNamara, Department of Psychology, 301 Wilson Hall, Vanderbilt University, 111 21st Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee 37240, United States of America.
| | - Gregory E Cox
- Phillip M. Newman, Gregory E. Cox, and Timothy P. McNamara, Department of Psychology, 301 Wilson Hall, Vanderbilt University, 111 21st Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee 37240, United States of America; Gregory E. Cox is now in the Department of Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York, United States of America
| | - Timothy P McNamara
- Phillip M. Newman, Gregory E. Cox, and Timothy P. McNamara, Department of Psychology, 301 Wilson Hall, Vanderbilt University, 111 21st Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee 37240, United States of America
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16
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Bainbridge WA, Pounder Z, Eardley AF, Baker CI. Quantifying aphantasia through drawing: Those without visual imagery show deficits in object but not spatial memory. Cortex 2021; 135:159-172. [PMID: 33383478 PMCID: PMC7856239 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.11.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2020] [Revised: 07/31/2020] [Accepted: 11/10/2020] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Congenital aphantasia is a recently characterized variation of experience defined by the inability to form voluntary visual imagery, in individuals who are otherwise high performing. Because of this specific deficit to visual imagery, individuals with aphantasia serve as an ideal group for probing the nature of representations in visual memory, particularly the interplay of object, spatial, and symbolic information. Here, we conducted a large-scale online study of aphantasia and revealed a dissociation in object and spatial content in their memory representations. Sixty-one individuals with aphantasia and matched controls with typical imagery studied real-world scene images, and were asked to draw them from memory, and then later copy them during a matched perceptual condition. Drawings were objectively quantified by 2,795 online scorers for object and spatial details. Aphantasic participants recalled significantly fewer objects than controls, with less color in their drawings, and an increased reliance on verbal scaffolding. However, aphantasic participants showed high spatial accuracy equivalent to controls, and made significantly fewer memory errors. These differences between groups only manifested during recall, with no differences between groups during the matched perceptual condition. This object-specific memory impairment in individuals with aphantasia provides evidence for separate systems in memory that support object versus spatial information. The study also provides an important experimental validation for the existence of aphantasia as a variation in human imagery experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wilma A Bainbridge
- Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
| | - Zoë Pounder
- Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, London, UK.
| | - Alison F Eardley
- Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, London, UK.
| | - Chris I Baker
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
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17
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Filomena G, Manley E, Verstegen JA. Perception of urban subdivisions in pedestrian movement simulation. PLoS One 2021; 15:e0244099. [PMID: 33382726 PMCID: PMC7774988 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0244099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The perception of urban subdivisions, deriving from regionalisation processes and the identification of separating elements (barriers), has proven to dynamically shape peoples’ cognitive representations of space and route choice behaviour in cities. However, existing Agent-Based Models (ABMs) for pedestrian simulation have not accounted for these particular cognitive mapping processes. The aim of this paper is to explore the behaviour of pedestrian agents endowed with knowledge about urban subdivisions. Drawing from literature in spatial cognition, we adapted a region-based route choice model, which contemplates a high- and a local planning level, and advanced a barrier-based route choice model, wherein the influence of separating elements is manipulated. Finally, we combined these two approaches in a region-barrier based model. The patterns emerging from the movement of agents employing such approaches were examined in the city centres of London and Paris. The introduction of regions in the routing mechanisms reduced the unbalanced concentration of agents across the street network brought up by the widely employed least cumulative angular change model (-.08 Gini coefficient). The inclusion of barriers further raised the dispersal of the agents through secondary roads, while leading agents to walk along waterfronts and across parks; it also yielded a more regular usage of pedestrian roads. Moreover, the region- and the region-barrier based routes showed deviation ratio values from the road distance shortest path (region-based: 1.18 London, 1.16 Paris, region-barrier based: 1.43 London, 1.33 Paris) consistent with empirical observations from pedestrian behaviour research. A further evaluation of the model with macro-level observational data may enhance the understanding of pedestrian dynamics and help tuning the interplay amongst urban salient elements at the agent level. Yet, we consider the movement flows arising from our current implementation insightful for assessing the distribution of pedestrians and testing possible interventions for the design of legible and walkable spaces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriele Filomena
- Institute for Geoinformatics, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Ed Manley
- School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
- Leeds Institute for Data Analytics (LIDA), University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
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18
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Iaria G, Slone E. The relationship between mental and physical space and its impact on topographical disorientation. HANDBOOK OF CLINICAL NEUROLOGY 2021; 178:195-211. [PMID: 33832677 DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-821377-3.00009-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
We generate mental representations of space to facilitate our ability to remember things and navigate our environment. Many studies implicitly assume that these representations simply reflect the environments that they represent without considering other factors that influence the extent to which this is the case. Here, we bring together findings from cognitive psychology, environmental psychology, geography, urban planning, and neuroscience to discuss how internalizing the environment involves a complex interplay between bottom-up and top-down mental processes and depends on key characteristics of the physical environment itself. We describe how mental space is structured, the ways in which mental and physical space converge and diverge, and the disparate but complementary techniques used to assess these relationships. Finally, we contextualize this knowledge in the clinical populations affected by acquired and developmental topographical disorientation, exploring mechanisms that cause these patients to get lost in familiar surroundings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giuseppe Iaria
- Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
| | - Edward Slone
- Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
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19
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Wang Y, Yu X, Dou Y, McNamara TP, Li J. Mental representations of recently learned nested environments. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2020; 85:2922-2934. [PMID: 33211160 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-020-01447-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2020] [Accepted: 11/03/2020] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Two experiments investigated the mental representations of objects' location in a virtual nested environment. In Experiment 1, participants learned the locations of objects (buildings or related accessories) in an exterior environment and then learned the locations of objects inside one of the centrally located buildings (interior environment). Participants completed judgments of relative direction in which the imagined heading was established by pairs of objects from the interior environment and the target was one of the objects in the exterior environment. Performance was best for the imagined heading and allocentric target direction parallel to the learning heading of the exterior environment, but the effect of allocentric target direction was only significant for the imagined headings aligned with the reference axes of both environments; in addition, performance was best along the front-back egocentric axis (parallel to the imagined heading). Experiment 2 used the same learning procedure. After learning, the viewpoint was moved from the exterior environment along a smooth path into a side entrance of the building/interior environment. There participants saw the array of interior objects in the orientation consistent with their movement (correct cue), the array of objects in an orientation inconsistent with their movement (misleading cue), or no array of objects (no cue), and then pointed to objects in the exterior environment. Pointing performance was best for the correct-cue condition. Collectively the results indicated that memories of nested spaces are segregated by spatial conceptual level, and that spatial relations between levels are specified in terms of the dominant reference directions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yao Wang
- School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210097, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiaohan Yu
- School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210097, People's Republic of China
| | - Yan Dou
- School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210097, People's Republic of China
| | | | - Jing Li
- School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210097, People's Republic of China.
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20
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Keller AM, Taylor HA, Brunyé TT. Uncertainty promotes information-seeking actions, but what information? COGNITIVE RESEARCH-PRINCIPLES AND IMPLICATIONS 2020; 5:42. [PMID: 32894402 PMCID: PMC7477035 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-020-00245-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2019] [Accepted: 08/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Navigating an unfamiliar city almost certainly brings out uncertainty about getting from place to place. This uncertainty, in turn, triggers information gathering. While navigational uncertainty is common, little is known about what type of information people seek when they are uncertain. The primary choices for information types with environments include landmarks (distal or local), landmark configurations (relation between two or more landmarks), and a distinct geometry, at least for some environments. Uncertainty could lead individuals to more likely seek one of these information types. Extant research informs both predictions about and empirical work exploring this question. This review covers relevant cognitive literature and then suggests empirical approaches to better understand information-seeking actions triggered by uncertainty. Notably, we propose that examining continuous navigation data can provide important insights into information seeking. Benefits of continuous data will be elaborated through one paradigm, spatial reorientation, which intentionally induces uncertainty through disorientation and cue conflict. While this and other methods have been used previously, data have primarily reflected only the final choice. Continuous behavior during a task can better reveal the cognition-action loop contributing to spatial learning and decision making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashlynn M Keller
- Department of Psychology, Tufts University, 490 Boston Ave., Medford, MA, 02155, USA.
| | - Holly A Taylor
- Department of Psychology, Tufts University, 490 Boston Ave., Medford, MA, 02155, USA.,Tufts University, Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, 200 Boston Ave., Suite 1800, Medford, MA, 02155, USA
| | - Tad T Brunyé
- Tufts University, Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, 200 Boston Ave., Suite 1800, Medford, MA, 02155, USA.,US Army CCDC Soldier Center, 15 General Greene Ave., Natick, MA, 01760, USA
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21
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Novel M, Grütter R, Boley H, Bernstein A. Nearness as context-dependent expression: an integrative review of modeling, measurement and contextual properties. SPATIAL COGNITION AND COMPUTATION 2020. [DOI: 10.1080/13875868.2020.1754832] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Marc Novel
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
- Department of Informatics, University of Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Rolf Grütter
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Harold Boley
- Faculty of Computer Science, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada
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22
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Hamami Y, van der Kuil MNA, Mumma J, van der Ham IJM. Cognitive processing of spatial relations in Euclidean diagrams. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2020; 205:103019. [PMID: 32145463 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2019] [Revised: 11/08/2019] [Accepted: 01/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The cognitive processing of spatial relations in Euclidean diagrams is central to the diagram-based geometric practice of Euclid's Elements. In this study, we investigate this processing through two dichotomies among spatial relations-metric vs topological and exact vs co-exact-introduced by Manders in his seminal epistemological analysis of Euclid's geometric practice. To this end, we carried out a two-part experiment where participants were asked to judge spatial relations in Euclidean diagrams in a visual half field task design. In the first part, we tested whether the processing of metric vs topological relations yielded the same hemispheric specialization as the processing of coordinate vs categorical relations. In the second part, we investigated the specific performance patterns for the processing of five pairs of exact/co-exact relations, where stimuli for the co-exact relations were divided into three categories depending on their distance from the exact case. Regarding the processing of metric vs topological relations, hemispheric differences were found for only a few of the stimuli used, which may indicate that other processing mechanisms might be at play. Regarding the processing of exact vs co-exact relations, results show that the level of agreement among participants in judging co-exact relations decreases with the distance from the exact case, and this for the five pairs of exact/co-exact relations tested. The philosophical implications of these empirical findings for the epistemological analysis of Euclid's diagram-based geometric practice are spelled out and discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yacin Hamami
- Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
| | - Milan N A van der Kuil
- Department Health, Medical and Neuropsychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - John Mumma
- Philosophy Department, California State University of San Bernardino, San Bernardino, CA, USA
| | - Ineke J M van der Ham
- Department Health, Medical and Neuropsychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands
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23
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Ekstrom AD, Harootonian SK, Huffman DJ. Grid coding, spatial representation, and navigation: Should we assume an isomorphism? Hippocampus 2020; 30:422-432. [PMID: 31742364 PMCID: PMC7409510 DOI: 10.1002/hipo.23175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2019] [Revised: 10/21/2019] [Accepted: 10/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Grid cells provide a compelling example of a link between cellular activity and an abstract and difficult to define concept like space. Accordingly, a representational perspective on grid coding argues that neural grid coding underlies a fundamentally spatial metric. Recently, some theoretical proposals have suggested extending such a framework to nonspatial cognition as well, such as category learning. Here, we provide a critique of the frequently employed assumption of an isomorphism between patterns of neural activity (e.g., grid cells), mental representation, and behavior (e.g., navigation). Specifically, we question the strict isomorphism between these three levels and suggest that human spatial navigation is perhaps best characterized by a wide variety of both metric and nonmetric strategies. We offer an alternative perspective on how grid coding might relate to human spatial navigation, arguing that grid coding is part of a much larger conglomeration of neural activity patterns that dynamically tune to accomplish specific behavioral outputs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arne D Ekstrom
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
| | | | - Derek J Huffman
- Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, California
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24
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Tenbrink T, Taylor HA, Brunyé TT, Gagnon SA, Gardony AL. Cognitive focus affects spatial decisions under conditions of uncertainty. Cogn Process 2020; 21:287-302. [PMID: 31974762 PMCID: PMC7203091 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-020-00952-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2019] [Accepted: 01/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Finding one’s way to a destination is a common, everyday task that often relies on spatial information provided by humans and/or automatic devices. However, the information can be inaccurate. How we decide which route to take will depend on our thoughts about the available route information, including who or what provided it, and how these sources may be associated with differential accuracy and fallibility. In three experiments (previously reported in Brunyé et al. (Q J Exper Psychol 68(3):585–607, 2015)), we found that when route directions conflicted with the perceived environment, people trusted the landmark information other humans provided, but relied on the turn direction information from an automatic device. But what guides these behavioral results? Here we present a systematic linguistic analysis of retrospective reports that sheds some light on how information about the direction source affects cognitive focus. A focus on direction sources in the instruction triggered a cognitive focus on the direction source throughout. Participants who systematically switched strategies focused more on features of the scenario than those who did not. Non-switching strategies were associated with a higher focus on the participants’ own reasoning processes, in particular when relying on turn information. These results highlight how cognitive focus is guided by scenario factors and individual preferences, triggering inferences that influence decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thora Tenbrink
- School of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, Bangor University, Bangor, UK.
| | - Holly A Taylor
- Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.,Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
| | - Tad T Brunyé
- Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.,Cognitive Science, U.S. Army CCDC Soldier Center, Natick, MA, USA.,Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
| | - Stephanie A Gagnon
- Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.,Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.,Cognitive Science, U.S. Army CCDC Soldier Center, Natick, MA, USA
| | - Aaron L Gardony
- Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.,Cognitive Science, U.S. Army CCDC Soldier Center, Natick, MA, USA.,Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
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25
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Stevens CA, Carlson RA. Is Simpler Always Better? Effects of Perceptual Detail and Viewpoint on Spatial Cognition and Metacognition. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2019. [DOI: 10.5406/amerjpsyc.132.3.0293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
When making spatial judgments, people tend to prefer to use artifacts and displays with a high level of perceptual detail or realism. Sometimes, increasing detail is helpful. But sometimes it leads to an information overload that degrades performance. Very little prior research has examined the effect of perceptual detail on orientation judgments. Such judgments require a person to flexibly adopt various novel viewpoints within a space. We hypothesized that perceptual details would help people construct flexible representations of a novel space and that people would be more confident when perceptual information was available at study. Sixty participants memorized a map of a novel location, made judgments of relative direction, and gave confidence estimates about those judgments; one group studied a high-detail satellite map and the other studied a low-detail schematic map. People who studied the high-detail map were more confident and accurate in their later judgments about the map. Overall, the study suggests that perceptually vivid maps may improve performance and confidence in spatial judgments about a newly learned space.
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26
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Schick W, Halfmann M, Hardiess G, Hamm F, Mallot HA. Language cues in the formation of hierarchical representations of space. SPATIAL COGNITION AND COMPUTATION 2019. [DOI: 10.1080/13875868.2019.1576692] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Wiebke Schick
- Institute for Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Institute for Geoinformatics, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Marc Halfmann
- Multimodal Interaction Lab, IWM Institut für Wissensmedien, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Gregor Hardiess
- Institute for Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Friedrich Hamm
- Language Department, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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27
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Novick LR, Fuselier LC. Perception and conception in understanding evolutionary trees. Cognition 2019; 192:104001. [PMID: 31254891 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2019.06.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2018] [Revised: 06/10/2019] [Accepted: 06/11/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Relationships depicted in evolutionary trees depend solely on levels of most recent common ancestry. Integrating discipline-based education research in biology with perceptual/cognitive psychology, the authors predicted, however, that the Gestalt principles of perceptual grouping would affect how students interpret these relationships. Experiment 1 (N = 93) found that students segment 6-9 branch trees in accordance with the Gestalt principle of connectedness. Experiment 2 (N = 310) found that students in introductory through advanced biology classes predominantly believed, incorrectly, that the evolutionary relationships among a set of target taxa differed in two trees because the grouping of those taxa differed. Experiment 3 (N = 99) found that students from these same classes were more likely to make inferences consistent with the depicted evolutionary relationships when Gestalt grouping supported those inferences. The authors discuss implications for improving students' understanding of cladograms.
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28
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Solman GJF, Kingstone A. Spatial organization to facilitate action. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0216342. [PMID: 31075108 PMCID: PMC6510453 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0216342] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2018] [Accepted: 04/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans exert a great deal of control over our local environments-selecting and arranging the many objects around us on the basis of conflicting task-demands, aesthetic preferences, and habitual convenience. Because routine behaviour necessitates that we regularly find and access these objects, the particular arrangements we choose can influence the likelihood and difficulty of engaging in different tasks and actions. Despite this importance, relatively little research has directly examined human organizational behaviours and tendencies. Here we investigate how objects in a computer-based search task are freely and dynamically arranged by participants over time, while manipulating the statistics of the target sequence. We report common organizational behaviours including reduction of distance between targets as well as separation of target subsets with high community. However, the extent of these behaviours and their relationship to individual differences in performance varies as a function of the target sequence structure. In particular, tasks composed of a larger number of smaller groups of targets lead to better organizational and performance outcomes than tasks composed of fewer larger groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grayden J. F. Solman
- Psychology, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Alan Kingstone
- Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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29
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Bayesian average or truncation at boundaries? The mechanisms underlying categorical bias in spatial memory. Mem Cognit 2018; 47:473-484. [PMID: 30560470 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-018-0884-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Spatial memory is often biased by various factors, such as the region a target belongs to, which can be defined based on physical, perceptual, or implicit boundaries. In the typical dot-localization task first introduced by Huttenlocher, Hedges, and Duncan (Psychological Review 98: 352-376, 1991), individuals normally divide the task space into four quadrants delineated at the Cartesian axes (forming "default categories") and show systematic bias in target localization toward the center of the category. At least two mechanisms have been proposed to account for these categorical biases, namely (a) weighted-average of a metric representation and the category prototype representation and (b) truncation of an un-biased metric representation at the category boundary. Both models can account for these findings and cannot be differentiated by existing research methods. Using a new distribution analysis, the current study sought to differentiate between these two models. Participants viewed a dot inside a circle and recalled its location after a delay either with the same blank circle (i.e., the standard dot-in-circle paradigm) or when an alternative V-shaped category boundary was visually presented at retrieval. The data from three experiments showed symmetrical distribution of the errors that shifted toward the category center when people primarily used the default category, supporting the weighted-average model. In contrast, when people primarily used the alternative category, the errors showed a highly skewed distribution, more consistent with the truncation model. Overall, these results provided the first experimental evidence for both mechanisms separately.
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30
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Netto VM, Brigatti E, Meirelles J, Ribeiro FL, Pace B, Cacholas C, Sanches P. Cities, from Information to Interaction. ENTROPY 2018; 20:e20110834. [PMID: 33266557 PMCID: PMC7512396 DOI: 10.3390/e20110834] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2018] [Revised: 10/08/2018] [Accepted: 10/26/2018] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
From physics to the social sciences, information is now seen as a fundamental component of reality. However, a form of information seems still underestimated, perhaps precisely because it is so pervasive that we take it for granted: the information encoded in the very environment we live in. We still do not fully understand how information takes the form of cities, and how our minds deal with it in order to learn about the world, make daily decisions, and take part in the complex system of interactions we create as we live together. This paper addresses three related problems that need to be solved if we are to understand the role of environmental information: (1) the physical problem: how can we preserve information in the built environment? (2) The semantic problem: how do we make environmental information meaningful? and (3) the pragmatic problem: how do we use environmental information in our daily lives? Attempting to devise a solution to these problems, we introduce a three-layered model of information in cities, namely environmental information in physical space, environmental information in semantic space, and the information enacted by interacting agents. We propose forms of estimating entropy in these different layers, and apply these measures to emblematic urban cases and simulated scenarios. Our results suggest that ordered spatial structures and diverse land use patterns encode information, and that aspects of physical and semantic information affect coordination in interaction systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vinicius M. Netto
- Department of Urbanism, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rua Passo da Patria 156, Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro 24210-240, Brazil
- Correspondence: (V.M.N.); (E.B.); (J.M.); (F.L.R.); (B.P.); (C.C.); (P.S.); Tel.: +41-21-78640 9985 (J.M.)
| | - Edgardo Brigatti
- Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Av. Athos da Silveira Ramos 149, Rio de Janeiro 21941-972, Brazil
- Correspondence: (V.M.N.); (E.B.); (J.M.); (F.L.R.); (B.P.); (C.C.); (P.S.); Tel.: +41-21-78640 9985 (J.M.)
| | - João Meirelles
- Laboratory on Human-Environment Relations in Urban Systems, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne HERUS, EPFL, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
- Correspondence: (V.M.N.); (E.B.); (J.M.); (F.L.R.); (B.P.); (C.C.); (P.S.); Tel.: +41-21-78640 9985 (J.M.)
| | - Fabiano L. Ribeiro
- Deparment of Physics (DFI), Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA), Caixa postal 3037, Lavras, Brazil
- Correspondence: (V.M.N.); (E.B.); (J.M.); (F.L.R.); (B.P.); (C.C.); (P.S.); Tel.: +41-21-78640 9985 (J.M.)
| | - Bruno Pace
- Adalbertstraße 66, PLZ 10179 Berlin, Germany
- Correspondence: (V.M.N.); (E.B.); (J.M.); (F.L.R.); (B.P.); (C.C.); (P.S.); Tel.: +41-21-78640 9985 (J.M.)
| | - Caio Cacholas
- Programme of Graduate Studies, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rua Passo da Patria 156, Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro 24210-240, Brazil
- Correspondence: (V.M.N.); (E.B.); (J.M.); (F.L.R.); (B.P.); (C.C.); (P.S.); Tel.: +41-21-78640 9985 (J.M.)
| | - Patricia Sanches
- Department of Forest Science, Universidade de São Paulo, Avenida Pádua Dias 11, Piracicaba, São Paulo 13418-900, Brazil
- Correspondence: (V.M.N.); (E.B.); (J.M.); (F.L.R.); (B.P.); (C.C.); (P.S.); Tel.: +41-21-78640 9985 (J.M.)
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31
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Representational Structures as Stances: Examining Relationships to the City Under the Lens of Socio-Spatial Representations. INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2018. [DOI: 10.5334/irsp.45] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
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32
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Wang Q, Taylor HA, Brunyé TT. East is not right: Spatial compatibility differs between egocentric and cardinal retrieval. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2018; 72:1250-1279. [PMID: 29966492 DOI: 10.1177/1747021818789078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Four experiments examined perceptuo-motor associations involved in spatial knowledge encoding and retrieval. Participants learned spatial information by studying a map or by navigating through a real environment and then verified spatial descriptions based on either egocentric or cardinal directional terms. Participants moved the computer mouse to a YES or NO button to verify each statement. We tracked mouse cursor trajectories to examine perceptuo-motor associations in spatial knowledge. An encoding hypothesis predicts that perceptuo-motor associations depend on the involvement of perceptions and actions during encoding, regardless of how spatial knowledge would be used. The retrieval hypothesis predicts that perceptuo-motor associations change as a function of retrieval demands, regardless of how they are learned. The results supported the retrieval hypothesis. Participants showed action compatibility effects with egocentric retrieval, regardless of how spatial information was learned. With well-developed spatial knowledge, a reliable compatibility effect emerged during egocentric retrieval, but no or limited compatibility effects emerged with cardinal retrieval. With less-developed knowledge, the compatibility effects evident during cardinal retrieval suggest a process of egocentric recoding. Other factors of environment learning, such as location proximity and orientation changes, also impacted the compatibility effect, as revealed in the temporal dynamics of mouse movements. Taken together, the results demonstrate that retrieval demands differentially rely upon perceptuo-motor associations in long-term spatial knowledge. This effect is also modulated by environment experience, proximity of learned locations, and experienced orientations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qi Wang
- 1 Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.,2 Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
| | - Holly A Taylor
- 2 Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.,3 Center for Applied Brain & Cognitive Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
| | - Tad T Brunyé
- 2 Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.,3 Center for Applied Brain & Cognitive Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.,4 U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center, RDNS-SEW-THC, Natick, MA, USA
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33
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Abstract
Spatial memories are often hierarchically organized with different regions of space represented in unique clusters within the hierarchy. Each cluster is thought to be organized around its own microreference frame selected during learning, whereas relationships between clusters are organized by a macroreference frame. Two experiments were conducted in order to better understand important characteristics of macroreference frames. Participants learned overlapping spatial layouts of objects within a room-sized environment before performing a perspective-taking task from memory. Of critical importance were between-layout judgments thought to reflect the macroreference frame. The results indicate that (1) macroreference frames characterize overlapping spatial layouts, (2) macroreference frames are used even when microreference frames are aligned with one another, and (3) macroreference frame selection depends on an interaction between the global macroaxis (defined by characteristics of the layout of all learned objects), the relational macroaxis (defined by characteristics of the two layouts being related on a perspective-taking trial), and the learning view. These results refine the current understanding of macroreference frames and document their broad role in spatial memory.
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34
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen K. Reed
- Psychology and CRMSE, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
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35
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Ekstrom AD, Huffman DJ, Starrett M. Interacting networks of brain regions underlie human spatial navigation: a review and novel synthesis of the literature. J Neurophysiol 2017; 118:3328-3344. [PMID: 28931613 PMCID: PMC5814720 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00531.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2017] [Revised: 09/19/2017] [Accepted: 09/19/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Navigation is an inherently dynamic and multimodal process, making isolation of the unique cognitive components underlying it challenging. The assumptions of much of the literature on human spatial navigation are that 1) spatial navigation involves modality independent, discrete metric representations (i.e., egocentric vs. allocentric), 2) such representations can be further distilled to elemental cognitive processes, and 3) these cognitive processes can be ascribed to unique brain regions. We argue that modality-independent spatial representations, instead of providing exact metrics about our surrounding environment, more often involve heuristics for estimating spatial topology useful to the current task at hand. We also argue that egocentric (body centered) and allocentric (world centered) representations are better conceptualized as involving a continuum rather than as discrete. We propose a neural model to accommodate these ideas, arguing that such representations also involve a continuum of network interactions centered on retrosplenial and posterior parietal cortex, respectively. Our model thus helps explain both behavioral and neural findings otherwise difficult to account for with classic models of spatial navigation and memory, providing a testable framework for novel experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arne D Ekstrom
- Center for Neuroscience, University of California , Davis, California
- Department of Psychology, University of California , Davis, California
- Neuroscience Graduate Group, University of California , Davis, California
| | - Derek J Huffman
- Center for Neuroscience, University of California , Davis, California
| | - Michael Starrett
- Center for Neuroscience, University of California , Davis, California
- Department of Psychology, University of California , Davis, California
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36
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Lammert-Siepmann N, Bestgen AK, Edler D, Kuchinke L, Dickmann F. Audiovisual communication of object-names improves the spatial accuracy of recalled object-locations in topographic maps. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0186065. [PMID: 29059237 PMCID: PMC5653198 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/26/2016] [Accepted: 09/25/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Knowing the correct location of a specific object learned from a (topographic) map is fundamental for orientation and navigation tasks. Spatial reference systems, such as coordinates or cardinal directions, are helpful tools for any geometric localization of positions that aims to be as exact as possible. Considering modern visualization techniques of multimedia cartography, map elements transferred through the auditory channel can be added easily. Audiovisual approaches have been discussed in the cartographic community for many years. However, the effectiveness of audiovisual map elements for map use has hardly been explored so far. Within an interdisciplinary (cartography-cognitive psychology) research project, it is examined whether map users remember object-locations better if they do not just read the corresponding place names, but also listen to them as voice recordings. This approach is based on the idea that learning object-identities influences learning object-locations, which is crucial for map-reading tasks. The results of an empirical study show that the additional auditory communication of object names not only improves memory for the names (object-identities), but also for the spatial accuracy of their corresponding object-locations. The audiovisual communication of semantic attribute information of a spatial object seems to improve the binding of object-identity and object-location, which enhances the spatial accuracy of object-location memory.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Anne-Kathrin Bestgen
- Geomatics/Cartography Group, Geography Department, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
| | - Dennis Edler
- Geomatics/Cartography Group, Geography Department, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
| | - Lars Kuchinke
- Methodology and Evaluation, International Psychoanalytical University Berlin, Germany
| | - Frank Dickmann
- Geomatics/Cartography Group, Geography Department, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
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37
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Abstract
Humans are remarkably capable of finding desired objects in the world, despite the scale and complexity of naturalistic environments. Broadly, this ability is supported by an interplay between exploratory search and guidance from episodic memory for previously observed target locations. Here we examined how the environment itself may influence this interplay. In particular, we examined how partitions in the environment-like buildings, rooms, and furniture-can impact memory during repeated search. We report that the presence of partitions in a display, independent of item configuration, reliably improves episodic memory for item locations. Repeated search through partitioned displays was faster overall and was characterized by more rapid ballistic orienting in later repetitions. Explicit recall was also both faster and more accurate when displays were partitioned. Finally, we found that search paths were more regular and systematic when displays were partitioned. Given the ubiquity of partitions in real-world environments, these results provide important insights into the mechanisms of naturalistic search and its relation to memory.
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38
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Compression of environmental representations following interactions with objects. Atten Percept Psychophys 2017; 79:2460-2466. [DOI: 10.3758/s13414-017-1401-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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39
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Balaguer J, Spiers H, Hassabis D, Summerfield C. Neural Mechanisms of Hierarchical Planning in a Virtual Subway Network. Neuron 2017; 90:893-903. [PMID: 27196978 PMCID: PMC4882377 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2016.03.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 86] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2015] [Revised: 02/15/2016] [Accepted: 03/31/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Planning allows actions to be structured in pursuit of a future goal. However, in natural environments, planning over multiple possible future states incurs prohibitive computational costs. To represent plans efficiently, states can be clustered hierarchically into “contexts”. For example, representing a journey through a subway network as a succession of individual states (stations) is more costly than encoding a sequence of contexts (lines) and context switches (line changes). Here, using functional brain imaging, we asked humans to perform a planning task in a virtual subway network. Behavioral analyses revealed that humans executed a hierarchically organized plan. Brain activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and premotor cortex scaled with the cost of hierarchical plan representation and unique neural signals in these regions signaled contexts and context switches. These results suggest that humans represent hierarchical plans using a network of caudal prefrontal structures. Video Abstract
Humans represent plans in a hierarchical fashion, over contexts as well as states Hierarchical plan complexity is encoded in caudal prefrontal cortex Ventromedial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus encode proximity to a goal state The current context can be decoded from the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Balaguer
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3UD, UK; Google Deepmind, London EC4A 3TW, UK.
| | - Hugo Spiers
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | | | - Christopher Summerfield
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3UD, UK; Google Deepmind, London EC4A 3TW, UK
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40
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Spatial knowledge during skilled action sequencing: Hierarchical versus nonhierarchical representations. Atten Percept Psychophys 2017; 79:2435-2448. [PMID: 28762155 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-017-1389-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Typists can type 4 to 5 keystrokes per second at around 95% accuracy, yet they appear to have poor declarative knowledge of key locations. Logan and Crump (2011, Psychology of Learning and Motivation, Vol. 54, pp. 1-27) accounted for this paradox by proposing that typing is hierarchically organized into two loops, with an outer loop that transforms sentences into words and passes each word, one at a time, to an inner loop that transforms each word into its constituent keystrokes; however, the nature of the inner loop's spatial knowledge is not well understood. Key locations may be learned through the experiences of locating and traversing between keys. In daily life, people tend to type structured language, and, as a consequence, certain keys and key-to-key transitions are experienced more frequently than others. Here, we asked whether or not this knowledge is structured hierarchically. For example, knowledge of key locations may be nested within representations of words, or the inner loop may rely on knowledge that is independent from higher level structures. To test this, we had people type English, English-like, and random strings during normal, partially occluded, and occluded typing. In both partially occluded and occluded typing, error rates were higher while typing random strings compared to English and English-like strings, whereas there was no difference in error rates between English and English-like strings. This suggests that typists' spatial knowledge of the keyboard is not driven by hierarchical word-level representations, but instead is likely driven by a collection of individual processes, such as knowledge of the sequential structure of language acquired by typing more frequently occurring letters.
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41
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Alexander AS, Nitz DA. Spatially Periodic Activation Patterns of Retrosplenial Cortex Encode Route Sub-spaces and Distance Traveled. Curr Biol 2017; 27:1551-1560.e4. [PMID: 28528904 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.04.036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2017] [Revised: 04/03/2017] [Accepted: 04/19/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Traversal of a complicated route is often facilitated by considering it as a set of related sub-spaces. Such compartmentalization processes could occur within retrosplenial cortex, a structure whose neurons simultaneously encode position within routes and other spatial coordinate systems. Here, retrosplenial cortex neurons were recorded as rats traversed a track having recurrent structure at multiple scales. Consistent with a major role in compartmentalization of complex routes, individual retrosplenial cortex (RSC) neurons exhibited periodic activation patterns that repeated across route segments having the same shape. Concurrently, a larger population of RSC neurons exhibited single-cycle periodicity over the full route, effectively defining a framework for encoding of sub-route positions relative to the whole. The same population simultaneously provides a novel metric for distance from each route position to all others. Together, the findings implicate retrosplenial cortex in the extraction of path sub-spaces, the encoding of their spatial relationships to each other, and path integration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew S Alexander
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92092, USA
| | - Douglas A Nitz
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92092, USA.
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42
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Noack H, Schick W, Mallot H, Born J. Sleep enhances knowledge of routes and regions in spatial environments. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2017; 24:140-144. [PMID: 28202719 PMCID: PMC5311385 DOI: 10.1101/lm.043984.116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2016] [Accepted: 12/21/2016] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Sleep is thought to preferentially consolidate hippocampus-dependent memory, and as such, spatial navigation. Here, we investigated the effects of sleep on route knowledge and explicit and implicit semantic regions in a virtual environment. Sleep, compared with wakefulness, improved route knowledge and also enhanced awareness of the semantic regionalization within the environment, whereas signs of implicit regionalization remained unchanged. Results support the view that sleep specifically enhances explicit aspects of memory, also in the spatial domain. Enhanced region knowledge after sleep suggests that consolidation during sleep goes along with the formation of more abstract schema-like representations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannes Noack
- Institute for Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.,Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical School, University Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Wiebke Schick
- Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, University Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Hanspeter Mallot
- Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, University Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Jan Born
- Institute for Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
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43
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Linking "what" and "where" information: How the strength of object categories influences children's memory for object locations. J Exp Child Psychol 2017; 157:95-110. [PMID: 28131068 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2016.12.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2015] [Revised: 12/29/2016] [Accepted: 12/30/2016] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
We conducted three experiments to examine how the degree of category relatedness among objects in a group affects the magnitude of spatial bias in memory for their locations. Four age groups-7-, 9-, and 11-year-old children and adults-learned the locations of 20 objects marked by dots on a touchscreen monitor. After learning the object locations, participants attempted to place the objects without the aid of the dots. We compared spatial bias at test (i.e., placing objects in the same quadrant closer together than they really were) when objects within the same quadrant were strongly related versus unrelated (Experiment 1) or weakly related versus unrelated (Experiment 2). The 9-year-olds, 11-year-olds, and adults exhibited significant spatial bias when groups of objects were composed of either strongly or weakly related exemplars, but the 7-year-olds exhibited significant spatial bias only when the objects were strongly related. A third experiment revealed that the 7-year-olds exhibited only marginally significant spatial bias when objects within the same quadrant were weakly related and we cued them about the category labels beforehand. The General Discussion focuses on developmental changes in bottom-up associative processes and top-down strategic processes in memory for object locations.
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44
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Marchette SA, Ryan J, Epstein RA. Schematic representations of local environmental space guide goal-directed navigation. Cognition 2016; 158:68-80. [PMID: 27814459 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2016.10.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2016] [Revised: 09/27/2016] [Accepted: 10/07/2016] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
To successfully navigate to a target, it is useful to be able to define its location at multiple levels of specificity. For example, the location of a favorite coffee mug can be described in terms of which room it is in, or in terms of where it is within the room. An appealing hypothesis is that these levels of description are retrieved from memory by accessing the same representation at progressively finer levels of granularity-first remembering the general location of an object and then "zooming in." Here we provide evidence for an alternative view, in which navigational behavior is guided by independent representations at multiple spatial scales. Subjects learned the locations of objects that were positioned within four visually distinct but geometrically similar buildings, which were in turn positioned within a broader virtual park. They were then tested on their knowledge of object location by asking them to navigate to the remembered location of each object. We examined errors during the test phase for confusions among geometrically analogous locations in different buildings-that is, navigating to the right location in the wrong building. We observed that subjects frequently made these confusions, which are analogous to remembering a passage's location on the page of a book but not remembering the page that the passage is on. This suggests that subjects were recalling the object's local location without recalling its global location. Further manipulations across seven experiments indicated that geometric confusions were observed even between buildings that were not metrically identical as long as geometrical equivalence could be defined. However, removing the walls so that the larger environment was no longer divided into subspaces abolished these errors. Taken together, our results suggest that human spatial memory contains two separable representations of "where" an object can be found: (i) a schematic map of where an object lies with respect to local landmarks and boundaries; (ii) a representation of the identity and location of each local environment.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jack Ryan
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, United States
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45
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Rach T, Kirsch A. Modelling human problem solving with data from an online game. Cogn Process 2016; 17:415-428. [PMID: 27165697 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-016-0767-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2015] [Accepted: 04/18/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Since the beginning of cognitive science, researchers have tried to understand human strategies in order to develop efficient and adequate computational methods. In the domain of problem solving, the travelling salesperson problem has been used for the investigation and modelling of human solutions. We propose to extend this effort with an online game, in which instances of the travelling salesperson problem have to be solved in the context of a game experience. We report on our effort to design and run such a game, present the data contained in the resulting openly available data set and provide an outlook on the use of games in general for cognitive science research. In addition, we present three geometrical models mapping the starting point preferences in the problems presented in the game as the result of an evaluation of the data set.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tim Rach
- Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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46
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Derungs C, Purves RS. Mining nearness relations from an n-grams Web corpus in geographical space. SPATIAL COGNITION AND COMPUTATION 2016. [DOI: 10.1080/13875868.2016.1246553] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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47
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Jansen-Osmann P. Use of Virtual Environments to Investigate Development of Spatial Behavior and Spatial Knowledge of School-Age Children. Psychol Rep 2016; 100:675-90. [PMID: 17564244 DOI: 10.2466/pr0.100.2.675-690] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
This review aims to show the potential of using virtual environments in developmental spatial cognition research to advance empirical knowledge and theoretical insight. The facility for easy and economic variations of environmental features, the active, self-determined exploration, and the reliable registration of the navigation behavior using virtual environments allow investigating the development of spatial behavior and spatial knowledge in more detail. As a consequence, a dissociation between spatial behavior and spatial knowledge was observed, leading to the conclusion that spatial context has to be integrated further in any theoretical model regarding development of spatial cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petra Jansen-Osmann
- Heinrich Heine University, Dusseldorf, Institute of Experimental Psychology, Universitätsstrasse 1, D-40225 Disseldorf, Germany.
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48
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Gunzelmann G, Lyon DR. Constructing representations of spatial location from briefly presented displays. Cogn Process 2016; 18:81-85. [PMID: 27465806 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-016-0775-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2015] [Accepted: 07/12/2016] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Spatial memory and reasoning rely heavily on allocentric (often map-like) representations of spatial knowledge. While research has documented many ways in which spatial information can be represented in allocentric form, less is known about how such representations are constructed. For example: Are the very early, pre-attentive parts of the process hard-wired, or can they be altered by experience? We addressed this issue by presenting sub-saccadic (53 ms) masked stimuli consisting of a target among one to three reference features. We then shifted the location of the feature array, and asked participants to identify the target's new relative location. Experience altered feature processing even when the display duration was too short to allow attention re-allocation. The results demonstrate the importance of early perceptual processes in the creation of representations of spatial location, and the malleability of those processes based on experience and expectations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Glenn Gunzelmann
- Air Force Research Laboratory, Cognitive Models and Agents Branch, Wright Patterson AFB, 2620 Q St. - Building 852, Dayton, OH, 45433, USA.
| | - Don R Lyon
- Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, USA
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49
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Using Relational Reasoning to Learn About Scientific Phenomena at Unfamiliar Scales. EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/s10648-016-9371-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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50
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Detecting the perception of illusory spatial boundaries: Evidence from distance judgments. Cognition 2015; 146:371-6. [PMID: 26547843 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2015.10.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2015] [Revised: 10/14/2015] [Accepted: 10/17/2015] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Spatial boundaries demarcate everything from the lanes in our roadways to the borders between our countries. They are fundamental to object perception, spatial navigation, spatial memory, spatial judgments, and the coordination of our actions. Although explicit spatial boundaries formed by physical structures comprise many of the actual boundaries we encounter, implicit and permeable spatial boundaries are pervasive. The prevailing paradigm for detecting implicit spatial boundaries relies on memory-based distance and location judgments. One possibility is that these biases in spatial memory may be attributable to initial biases in spatial perception, but the extent to which implicit spatial boundaries bias spatial perception remains unknown. An approach for detecting the perception of implicit spatial boundaries would be to infer it through known systematic biases in memory-based distance judgments. We harnessed known biases in memory-based distance judgments to infer perception of spatial boundaries by probing the extent to which distances were overestimated across potential spatial boundaries. Results suggest that participants perceived potential spatial boundaries as illusory spatial boundaries leading to biased judgments of distance. A control group eliminated simple two-dimensional distance cues as responsible for this bias. This bias provides a novel method to detect the perception of illusory spatial boundaries.
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