Shape shifting: Local landmarks interfere with navigation by, and recognition of, global shape

Category relevance attenuates overshadowing in human predictive learning

In situations in which multiple predictors anticipate the presence or absence of an outcome, cues compete to anticipate the outcome, resulting in a loss of associative strength compared to control conditions without additional cues. Critically, there are multiple factors modulating the magnitude and direction of such competition, although in some scenarios the effect of these factors remains unexplored. We sought to assess whether the relative salience of the elements in a compound of cues modulates the magnitude of the overshadowing effect in human predictive learning. Two separable categories (i.e., colors and symbols) were used in a predictive learning task. In Experiment 1, different groups of participants were granted with different time of exposure to a compound of cues belonging to different categories (color and symbol) to evaluate potential differences in the magnitude of overshadowing. Furthermore, we used posttest questionnaires to assess whether participants used either only one or both categories during training, and assessed if this impacted the magnitude of overshadowing. In general, overshadowing was not modulated by the time of exposition, except in the case of very short time of exposition with prominent learning about the most salient category. In Experiment 2, the relative salience of a category was biased via prior experience either with a biconditional discrimination or attending only the relevant category (either color or symbol). The previously relevant category was less prone to overshadowing, but not the alternative one. Results are discussed in light of attentional and configural theories of associative learning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The effect of schizotypy on spatial learning in an environment with a distinctive shape

In two experiments, participants completed the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences measuring schizotypal traits across four dimensions (unusual experiences, cognitive disorganization, introvertive anhedonia, and impulsive non-conformity). They then took part in a virtual navigation task where they were required to learn about the position of a hidden goal with reference to geometric cues of a rectangular arena or rely on colored wall panels to find the hidden goal in a square-shaped arena. Unusual experience and cognitive disorganization were significant predictors of the use of geometric cues, but no significant predictors were found for the use of wall panels. Implications to hippocampal function and the clinical domain are considered.

Environmental cue difference and training duration modulate spatial learning and cue preference in detour task

In this study, we investigated how different environmental cue and the proficiency of body motion influenced detour learning behaviour and cue preference in cue conflict situations. Domestic chicks were trained to detour around an obstacle and follow a fixed route to rejoin with their partners. When the environmental cue was red vs. blue vertical stripes, the chicks learned the detour task quicker, and as the number of training trials after route acquisition increased, they switched their preference from the environmental cue to a body-motion cue in the cue conflict test. On the other hand, when the environmental cue was vertical vs. horizontal blue stripes, the chicks learned the detour task slower and showed a dependence on the body-motion cue regardless of the number of training trials performed after route acquisition. When the environmental cue was removed, most chicks could still successfully detour according to the specific route on which they had been trained. Furthermore, a significant difference in detour latency was found between chicks using the environmental cue and chicks using the body-motion cue, suggesting separate neuronal circuits responsible for processing the two types of information. Our results demonstrated that young domestic chicks could use both environmental cue and body-motion cues to memorize the route during the detour learning task; however the detour route preference could be dynamically modulated by difference of the environmental cue and the number of training trials they received. Illustrated Abstract Young domestic chicks could use environmental cues and body-motion cues to memorize route in a detour learning task (a). When environmental cue was red vs. blue vertical stripes, the chicks learned the task quicker (b) and their preference on environmental cue equalled to body-motion cue in the cue conflict test. However when environmental cue was vertical vs. horizontal blue stripes, the chicks showed a preferred dependence on body-motion cue (c). Detour latency was longer for chicks using the environmental cue than chicks using the body-motion cue (d).

The effects of spatial stability and cue type on spatial learning: Implications for theories of parallel memory systems

Some theories of spatial learning predict that associative rules apply under only limited circumstances. For example, learning based on a boundary has been claimed to be immune to cue competition effects because boundary information is the basis for the formation of a cognitive map, whilst landmark learning does not involve cognitive mapping. This is referred to as the cue type hypothesis. However, it has also been claimed that cue stability is a prerequisite for the formation of a cognitive map, meaning that whichever cue type was perceived as stable would enter a cognitive map and thus be immune to cue competition, while unstable cues will be subject to cue competition, regardless of cue type. In experiments 1 and 2 we manipulated the stability of boundary and landmark cues when learning the location of two hidden goals. One goal location was constant with respect to the boundary, and the other constant with respect to the landmark cues. For both cue types, the presence of distal orientation cues provided directional information. For half the participants the landmark cues were unstable relative to the boundary and orientation cues, whereas for the remainder of the participants the boundary was unstable relative to landmarks and orientation cues. In a second stage of training, all cues remained stable so that both goal locations could be learned with respect to both landmark and boundary information. According to the cue type hypothesis, boundary information should block learning about landmarks regardless of cue stability. According to the cue stability hypothesis, however, landmarks should block learning about the boundary when the landmarks appear stable relative to the boundary. Regardless of cue type or stability the results showed reciprocal blocking, contrary to both formulations of incidental cognitive mapping. Experiment 3 established that the results of Experiments 1 and 2 could not be explained in terms of difficulty in learning certain locations with respect to different cue types. In a final experiment, following training in which both landmarks and boundary cues signalled two goal locations, a new goal location was established with respect to the landmark cues, before testing with the boundary, which had never been used to define the new goal location. The results of this novel test of the interaction between boundary and landmark cues indicated that new learning with respect to the landmark had a profound effect on navigation with respect to the boundary, counter to the predictions of incidental cognitive mapping of boundaries.

Effect of room size on geometry and features cue preference during reorientation: Modulating encoding strength or cue weighting

Three experiments investigated how the room size affects preferential use of geometric and non-geometric cues during reorientation inside a room. We hypothesised that room size may affect preferential use of geometric and non-geometric cues by affecting the encoding of the cues (the encoding hypothesis), the retrieval of the cues (the retrieval hypothesis), or both the encoding and retrieval of the cues (the encoding-plus-retrieval hypothesis). In immersive virtual rectangular rooms, participants learned objects' locations with respect to geometric (room shape) and non-geometric cues (features on walls or isolated objects). During the test, participants localised objects with the geometric cue only, non-geometric cues only, or both. The two cues were placed at the original locations or displaced relative to each other (conflicting cues) when both were presented at testing. We manipulated the room size between participants within each experiment. The results showed that the room size affected cue preference using conflicting cues but did not affect response accuracy using single cues at testing. These results support the retrieval hypothesis. The results were discussed in terms of the effects of cue salience and stability on cue interaction in reorientation.

The effects of cue placement on the relative dominance of boundaries and landmark arrays in goal localization

Two types of visual features are identified as reference points used by individuals to encode locations: surface-based boundaries and discrete-object-based landmarks. Previous research show that learning locations relative to a boundary can overshadow learning relative to a landmark, but not vice versa, suggesting that environmental boundaries play a privileged role in representing individual locations. However, other research has revealed that a less accurate cognitive map is derived from boundary-related learning than from landmark-related learning, suggesting that a boundary is less privileged in representing inter-location spatial relations. The current study aims to reconcile these inconsistent findings. Experiment 1, using both a cue-competition paradigm and a cognitive mapping task, replicated the finding that participants preferred a circular boundary to a four-landmark array for encoding four locations (1A), but that the cognitive maps of the locations derived from the landmark array were more accurate (1B). Using the cue-competition paradigm, Experiments 2-4 manipulated the placement and distinctiveness of the two cues. The results showed that manipulating the placement of the landmark array effectively modulated the relative reliance upon the boundary/landmark-array in encoding individual location. Whereas increasing the distinctiveness of the landmark-array alone is not sufficient to eliminate the boundary advantage in localization. We propose that the boundary privilege occurs in selecting reference points for encoding locations due to its relative peripheral placement in the environment, whereas the landmark advantage occurs in inferring inter-location spatial relations due to the common reference point provided by the single landmark.

Blocking spatial navigation across environments that have a different shape

According to the geometric module hypothesis, organisms encode a global representation of the space in which they navigate, and this representation is not prone to interference from other cues. A number of studies, however, have shown that both human and non-human animals can navigate on the basis of local geometric cues provided by the shape of an environment. According to the model of spatial learning proposed by Miller and Shettleworth (2007, 2008), geometric cues compete for associative strength in the same manner as non-geometric cues do. The experiments reported here were designed to test if humans learn about local geometric cues in a manner consistent with the Miller-Shettleworth model. Experiment 1 replicated previous findings that humans transfer navigational behavior, based on local geometric cues, from a rectangle-shaped environment to a kite-shaped environment, and vice versa. In Experiments 2 and 3, it was observed that learning about non-geometric cues blocked, and were blocked by, learning about local geometric cues. The reciprocal blocking observed is consistent with associative theories of spatial learning; however, it is difficult to explain the observed effects with theories of global-shape encoding in their current form.

There or not there? A multidisciplinary review and research agenda on the impact of transparent barriers on human perception, action, and social behavior

Through advances in production and treatment technologies, transparent glass has become an increasingly versatile material and a global hallmark of modern architecture. In the shape of invisible barriers, it defines spaces while simultaneously shaping their lighting, noise, and climate conditions. Despite these unique architectural qualities, little is known regarding the human experience with glass barriers. Is a material that has been described as being simultaneously there and not there from an architectural perspective, actually there and/or not there from perceptual, behavioral, and social points of view? In this article, we review systematic observations and experimental studies that explore the impact of transparent barriers on human cognition and action. In doing so, the importance of empirical and multidisciplinary approaches to inform the use of glass in contemporary architecture is highlighted and key questions for future inquiry are identified.

Learned predictiveness training modulates biases towards using boundary or landmark cues during navigation

A number of navigational theories state that learning about landmark information should not interfere with learning about shape information provided by the boundary walls of an environment. A common test of such theories has been to assess whether landmark information will overshadow, or restrict, learning about shape information. Whilst a number of studies have shown that landmarks are not able to overshadow learning about shape information, some have shown that landmarks can, in fact, overshadow learning about shape information. Given the continued importance of theories that grant the shape information that is provided by the boundary of an environment a special status during learning, the experiments presented here were designed to assess whether the relative salience of shape and landmark information could account for the discrepant results of overshadowing studies. In Experiment 1, participants were first trained that either the landmarks within an arena (landmark-relevant), or the shape information provided by the boundary walls of an arena (shape-relevant), were relevant to finding a hidden goal. In a subsequent stage, when novel landmark and shape information were made relevant to finding the hidden goal, landmarks dominated behaviour for those given landmark-relevant training, whereas shape information dominated behaviour for those given shape-relevant training. Experiment 2, which was conducted without prior relevance training, revealed that the landmark cues, unconditionally, dominated behaviour in our task. The results of the present experiments, and the conflicting results from previous overshadowing experiments, are explained in terms of associative models that incorporate an attention variant.