scholarly journals Studying Spatial Memory in Augmented and Virtual reality

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shachar Maidenbaum ◽  
Ansh Patel ◽  
Isaiah Garlin ◽  
Josh Jacobs
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
List Type ◽  
Memory Research ◽  
Mobile Ar ◽  
Crucial Part ◽  
World Environment

AbstractSpatial memory is a crucial part of our lives. Spatial memory research and rehabilitation in humans is typically performed either in real environments, which is challenging practically, or in Virtual Reality (VR), which has limited realism. Here we explored the use of Augmented Reality (AR) for studying spatial cognition. AR combines the best features of real and VR paradigms by allowing subjects to learn spatial information in a flexible fashion while walking through a real-world environment. To compare these methods, we had subjects perform the same spatial memory task in VR and AR settings. Although subjects showed good performance in both, subjects reported that the AR task version was significantly easier, more immersive, and more fun than VR. Importantly, memory performance was significantly better in AR compared to VR. Our findings validate that integrating AR can lead to improved techniques for spatial memory research and suggest their potential for rehabilitation.HighlightsWe built matching spatial memory tasks in VR and ARSubjectively, subjects find the AR easier, more immersive and more funObjectively, subjects are significantly more accurate in AR compared to VRPointing based tasks did not fully show the same advantagesOnly AR walking significantly correlated with SBSoD, suggesting mobile AR better captures more natural spatial performance

scholarly journals Allocentric Spatial Memory Performance in a Virtual Reality-Based Task is Conditioned by Visuospatial Working Memory Capacity

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 552
Author(s):  
Joaquín Castillo Escamilla ◽  
José Javier Fernández Castro ◽  
Shishir Baliyan ◽  
Juan José Ortells-Pareja ◽  
Juan José Ortells Rodríguez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Medial Temporal Lobe ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Spatial Task ◽  
Analysis Of Covariance

Traditionally, the medial temporal lobe has been considered a key brain region for spatial memory. Nevertheless, executive functions, such as working memory, also play an important role in complex behaviors, such as spatial navigation. Thus, the main goal of this study is to clarify the relationship between working memory capacity and spatial memory performance. Spatial memory was assessed using a virtual reality-based procedure, the Boxes Room task, and the visual working memory with the computer-based Change Localization Task. One hundred and twenty-three (n = 123) participants took part in this study. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) revealed a statistically significant relationship between working memory capacity and spatial abilities. Thereafter, two subgroups n = 60, were formed according to their performance in the working memory task (1st and 4th quartiles, n = 30 each). Results demonstrate that participants with high working memory capacity committed fewer mistakes in the spatial task compared to the low working memory capacity group. Both groups improved their performance through repeated trials of the spatial task, thus showing that they could learn spatial layouts independent of their working memory capacity. In conclusion, these findings support that spatial memory performance is directly related to working memory skills. This could be relevant for spatial memory assessment in brain lesioned patients.

scholarly journals Preliminary findings of single session of noninvansive brain stimulation over parietal lobe and performance on spatial memory task

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
V Marija Čolić ◽  
Uroš Konstantinović ◽  
Jovana Bjekić ◽  
R Saša Filipović
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Brain Stimulation ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Parietal Lobe ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Long Term Effects

AbstractSpatial memory relies on efficient encoding, storage and retrieval of spatial information, which enables us to remember paths or locations of objects in everyday life. Moreover, this type of memory has been shown to decline with age and various neurodegenerative disorders. Parietal cortex has been shown to play an important role in the formation of short-term representations of spatial information. The aim of the current study was to test the possibility of immediate and long-term spatial memory enhancement, by increasing excitability of parietal posterior cortex. We used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over posterior parietal cortex in a placebo-controlled cross-over study. Participants received anodal (1.5 mA) or sham tDCS stimulation over P4 site (10-20 EEG system) for 20 minutes in two separate sessions. Immediately after stimulation, participants completed a spatial maze task, which consisted of learning block, 2D recall, and 3D recall. Spatial memory performance was tested 24 hours and 7 days after stimulation, to assess potential long-term effects. We found no significant effects of anodal stimulation on spatial memory performance either on immediate or delayed recall. This was the case with both, 2D and 3D spatial memory recall. Our results are in line with some studies that suggest that single brain stimulation sessions do not always produce effects on cognitive functions.

scholarly journals Negative Effects of Embodiment in a Visuo-Spatial Working Memory Task in Children, Young Adults, and Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluca Amico ◽  
Sabine Schaefer
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Negative Effects

Studies examining the effect of embodied cognition have shown that linking one’s body movements to a cognitive task can enhance performance. The current study investigated whether concurrent walking while encoding or recalling spatial information improves working memory performance, and whether 10-year-old children, young adults, or older adults (Mage = 72 years) are affected differently by embodiment. The goal of the Spatial Memory Task was to encode and recall sequences of increasing length by reproducing positions of target fields in the correct order. The nine targets were positioned in a random configuration on a large square carpet (2.5 m × 2.5 m). During encoding and recall, participants either did not move, or they walked into the target fields. In a within-subjects design, all possible combinations of encoding and recall conditions were tested in counterbalanced order. Contrary to our predictions, moving particularly impaired encoding, but also recall. These negative effects were present in all age groups, but older adults’ memory was hampered even more strongly by walking during encoding and recall. Our results indicate that embodiment may not help people to memorize spatial information, but can create a dual-task situation instead.

scholarly journals Place cells in head-fixed mice navigating a floating real-world environment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Ann Go ◽  
Jake Rogers ◽  
Giuseppe P. Gava ◽  
Catherine Davey ◽  
Seigfred Prado ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Real World ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
Place Cells ◽  
Neural Population ◽  
Spatial Coding ◽  
Place Fields ◽  
Freely Moving ◽  
World Environment

ABSTRACTThe hippocampal place cell system in rodents has provided a major paradigm for the scientific investigation of memory function and dysfunction. Place cells have been observed in area CA1 of the hippocampus of both freely moving animals, and of head-fixed animals navigating in virtual reality environments. However, spatial coding in virtual reality preparations has been observed to be impaired. Here we show that the use of a real-world environment system for head-fixed mice, consisting of a track floating on air, provides some advantages over virtual reality systems for the study of spatial memory. We imaged the hippocampus of head-fixed mice injected with the genetically encoded calcium indicator GCaMP6s while they navigated circularly constrained or open environments on the floating platform. We observed consistent place tuning in a substantial fraction of cells with place fields remapping when animals entered a different environment. When animals re-entered the same environment, place fields typically remapped over a time period of multiple days, faster than in freely moving preparations, but comparable with virtual reality. Spatial information rates were within the range observed in freely moving mice. Manifold analysis indicated that spatial information could be extracted from a low-dimensional subspace of the neural population dynamics. This is the first demonstration of place cells in head-fixed mice navigating on an air-lifted real-world platform, validating its use for the study of brain circuits involved in memory and affected by neurodegenerative disorders.

scholarly journals Measuring memory is harder than you think: A crisis of measurement in memory research

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy F. Brady ◽  
Maria Martinovna Robinson ◽  
Jamal Rodgers Williams ◽  
John Wixted
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
False Alarm ◽  
False Alarm Rate ◽  
Eyewitness Identification ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Memory Research ◽  
Hit Rate ◽  
Memory Signals

There is a crisis of measurement in memory research, with major implications for theory and practice. This crisis arises because of a critical complication present when measuring memory using the recognition memory task that dominates the study of working memory and long-term memory (“did you see this item? yes/no” or “did this item change? yes/no”). Such tasks give two measures of performance, the “hit rate” (how often you say you previously saw an item you actually did previously see) and the “false alarm rate” (how often you say you saw something you never saw). Yet what researchers want is one single, integrated measure of memory performance. Integrating the hit and false alarm rate into a single measure, however, requires a complex problem of counterfactual reasoning that depends on the (unknowable) distribution of underlying memory signals: when faced with two people differing in both hit rate and false alarm rate, the question of who had the better memory is really “who would have had more hits if they each had the same number of false alarms”. As a result of this difficulty, different literatures in memory research (e.g., visual working memory, eyewitness identification, picture memory, etc) have settled on a variety of distinct metrics to combine hit rates and false alarm rates (e.g., A’, corrected hit rate, percent correct, d’, diagnosticity ratios, K values, etc.). These metrics make different, contradictory assumptions about the distribution of latent memory signals, and all of their assumptions are frequently incorrect. Despite a large literature on how to properly measure memory performance, spanning decades, real-life decisions are often made using these metrics, even when they subsequently turn out to be wrong when memory is studied with better measures. We suggest that in order for the psychology and neuroscience of memory to become a cumulative, theory-driven science, more attention must be given to measurement issues. We make a concrete suggestion: the default memory task should change from old/new (“did you see this item’?”) to forced-choice (“which of these two items did you see?”). In situations where old/new variants are preferred (e.g., eyewitness identification; theoretical investigations of the nature of memory decisions), receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis should always be performed.

scholarly journals Place Cells in Head-Fixed Mice Navigating a Floating Real-World Environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Ann Go ◽  
Jake Rogers ◽  
Giuseppe P. Gava ◽  
Catherine E. Davey ◽  
Seigfred Prado ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Real World ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
Place Cells ◽  
Neural Population ◽  
Spatial Coding ◽  
Place Fields ◽  
Freely Moving ◽  
World Environment

The hippocampal place cell system in rodents has provided a major paradigm for the scientific investigation of memory function and dysfunction. Place cells have been observed in area CA1 of the hippocampus of both freely moving animals, and of head-fixed animals navigating in virtual reality environments. However, spatial coding in virtual reality preparations has been observed to be impaired. Here we show that the use of a real-world environment system for head-fixed mice, consisting of an air-floating track with proximal cues, provides some advantages over virtual reality systems for the study of spatial memory. We imaged the hippocampus of head-fixed mice injected with the genetically encoded calcium indicator GCaMP6s while they navigated circularly constrained or open environments on the floating platform. We observed consistent place tuning in a substantial fraction of cells despite the absence of distal visual cues. Place fields remapped when animals entered a different environment. When animals re-entered the same environment, place fields typically remapped over a time period of multiple days, faster than in freely moving preparations, but comparable with virtual reality. Spatial information rates were within the range observed in freely moving mice. Manifold analysis indicated that spatial information could be extracted from a low-dimensional subspace of the neural population dynamics. This is the first demonstration of place cells in head-fixed mice navigating on an air-lifted real-world platform, validating its use for the study of brain circuits involved in memory and affected by neurodegenerative disorders.

scholarly journals A Virtual Reality Investigation Of Spontaneous Navigation Strategies And Spatial Memory Performance In Schizophrenia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leanne K. Wilkins
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Effect Size ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Cognitive Map ◽  
Magnitude Effect ◽  
Spatial Strategy ◽  
Navigation Strategies

There is strong evidence that schizophrenia (SCZ) patients perform poorly on spatial memory tasks. We investigated whether these deficits were associated with subdivisions of spatial memory (locale/cognitive map and taxon/response) or whether these deficits represented a general cognitive decline. This study investigated the types of spontaneous navigation strategies used by individuals living with SCZ to solve the 4 on 8 task. It was predicted that SCZ participants who spontaneously chose a spatial strategy would have the longest latencies and make the most errors. Four of five measures of latency and errors produced a medium magnitude effect size (

Dissociations in the Processing of “What” and “Where” Information in Working Memory: An Event-Related Potential Analysis

1996 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 453-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Mecklinger ◽  
N. Müller
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Slow Wave ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Test Procedure ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Study Phase ◽  
Object Memory ◽  
Spatial Memory Task

Based on recent research that suggests that the processing of spatial and object information in the primate brain involves functionally and anatomically different systems, we examined whether the encoding and retention of object and spatial information in working memory are associated with different ERP components. In a study-test procedure subjects were asked to either remember simple geometric objects presented in a 4 by 4 spatial matrix irrespective of their position (object memory task) or to remember spatial positions of the objects irrespective of their forms (spatial memory task). The EEG was recorded from 13 electrodes during the study phase and the test phase. Recognition performance (reaction time and accuracy) was not different for the two memory tasks. PCA analyses suggest that the same four ERP components are evoked in the study phase by both tasks, which could be identified as N100, P200, P300, and slow wave. ERPs started to differ as a function of memory task 225 msec after stimulus onset at the posterior recording sites: An occipital maximal P200 component, lateralized to the right posterior temporal recording site, was observed for the object memory but not for the spatial memory task. Between-tasks differences were also obtained for P300 scalp distribution. Moreover, ERPs evoked by objects that were remembered later were more positive than ERPs to objects that were not remembered, starting at 400 msec postsimulus. The PCA analysis suggest that P300 and a slow wave following P300 at the frontal recordings contribute to these differences. A similar differential effect was not found between positions remembered or not remembered later. Post hoc analyses revealed that the absence of such effects in the spatial memory task could be due to less elaborated mnemonic strategies used in the spatial task compared to the object memory task. In the face of two additional behavioral experiments showing that subjects exclusively encode object features in the object memory task and spatial stimulus features in the spatial memory task, the present data provide evidence that encoding and rehearsal of object and spatial information in working memory are subserved by functionally and anatomically different subsystems.

scholarly journals A-181 Comparing Virtual Reality and Analog Prospective Memory Performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 976-976
Author(s):  
Coldiron A ◽  
Smith L ◽  
Helphrey J ◽  
Sawyer J ◽  
Flores E ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Prospective Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Prospective Memory Task ◽  
Within Subjects ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Prospective Memory Performance

Abstract Objective A virtual reality-based prospective memory task was designed to examine whether a virtual environment would allow for a deeper level of processing and aid prospective memory performance. The purpose of this study was to compare young adults’ performance on analog and virtual reality-based prospective memory tasks. Method Young adult college students (N = 40; ages 18–26) completed both analog and virtual reality prospective memory tasks in the Virtual Kitchen Protocol. Results A within-subjects analysis of variance found that participants performed better on the analog prospective memory task than in virtual reality, F(1,39) = 12.46, p = .001. Conclusions Results suggest that the virtual environment served as a source of distraction rather than a memory aid for young adults’ prospective memory ability. However, this added level of distraction may mimic everyday prospective memory settings better than traditional analog tasks, suggesting that virtual prospective memory tasks may be able to better assess everyday prospective memory abilities.

scholarly journals Functional Metaplasticity of Hippocampal Schaffer Collateral-CA1 Synapses Is Reversed in Chronically Epileptic Rats

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirko Rehberg ◽  
Timo Kirschstein ◽  
Xiati Guli ◽  
Steffen Müller ◽  
Marco Rohde ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Synaptic Plasticity ◽  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Long Term Potentiation ◽  
Memory Training ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Training Task ◽  
Schaffer Collateral

Spatial learning and associating spatial information with individual experience are crucial for rodents and higher mammals. Hence, studying the cellular and molecular cascades involved in the key mechanism of information storage in the brain, synaptic plasticity, has led to enormous knowledge in this field. A major open question applies to the interdependence between synaptic plasticity and its behavioral correlates. In this context, it has become clear that behavioral aspects may impact subsequent synaptic plasticity, a phenomenon termed behavioral metaplasticity. Here, we trained control and pilocarpine-treated chronically epileptic rats of two different age groups (adolescent and adult) in a spatial memory task and subsequently tested long-term potentiation (LTP) in vitro at Schaffer collateral—CA1 synapses. As expected, memory acquisition in the behavioral task was significantly impaired both in pilocarpine-treated animals and in adult controls. Accordingly, these groups, without being tested in the behavioral training task, showed reduced CA1-LTP levels compared to untrained young controls. Spatial memory training significantly reduced subsequent CA1-LTP in vitro in the adolescent control group yet enhanced CA1-LTP in the adult pilocarpine-treated group. Such training in the adolescent pilocarpine-treated and adult control groups resulted in intermediate changes. Our study demonstrates age-dependent functional metaplasticity following a spatial memory training task and its reversal under pathological conditions.

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