scholarly journals Navigating in Virtual Environments: Does a Map or a Map-Based Description Presented Beforehand Help?

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 773
Author(s):  
Chiara Meneghetti ◽  
Francesca Pazzaglia

Background. One of the aims of research in spatial cognition is to examine the factors capable of optimizing environment learning from navigation, which can be examined using a virtual environment (VE). Different learning conditions can play an important part. Aim. This study examined the benefits of presenting configured information (layout with elements arranged in it) using a map or verbal description before a learner navigates in a new environment. Method. Ninety participants were assigned to three learning groups of 30 individuals (15 males and 15 females). Before participants navigated in a VE, one group was shown a map of the environment (“map before navigation”), a second group read a map-like description of the environment (“description before navigation”), and a third group started navigating without any prior input (“only navigation”). Participants then learned a path in a VE (presented as if they were driving a car). Their recall was subsequently tested using three types of task: (i) route retracing; (ii) pointing; (iii) path drawing. Several measures were administered to assess participants’ individual visuospatial and verbal factors. Results. There were no differences between the three groups in route retracing. The “map before navigation” group performed better than the “only navigation” group in both the pointing and the path drawing tasks, however, and also outperformed the “description before navigation” group in the path drawing task. Some relations emerged between participants’ individual difference factors and their recall performance. Conclusions. In learning from navigation, seeing a map beforehand benefits learning accuracy. Recall performance is also supported, at least in part, by individual visuospatial and verbal factors.

Author(s):  
Patrick Bonin ◽  
Margaux Gelin ◽  
Betty Laroche ◽  
Alain Méot ◽  
Aurélia Bugaiska

Abstract. Animates are better remembered than inanimates. According to the adaptive view of human memory ( Nairne, 2010 ; Nairne & Pandeirada, 2010a , 2010b ), this observation results from the fact that animates are more important for survival than inanimates. This ultimate explanation of animacy effects has to be complemented by proximate explanations. Moreover, animacy currently represents an uncontrolled word characteristic in most cognitive research ( VanArsdall, Nairne, Pandeirada, & Cogdill, 2015 ). In four studies, we therefore investigated the “how” of animacy effects. Study 1 revealed that words denoting animates were recalled better than those referring to inanimates in an intentional memory task. Study 2 revealed that adding a concurrent memory load when processing words for the animacy dimension did not impede the animacy effect on recall rates. Study 3A was an exact replication of Study 2 and Study 3B used a higher concurrent memory load. In these two follow-up studies, animacy effects on recall performance were again not altered by a concurrent memory load. Finally, Study 4 showed that using interactive imagery to encode animate and inanimate words did not alter the recall rate of animate words but did increase the recall of inanimate words. Taken together, the findings suggest that imagery processes contribute to these effects.


1996 ◽  
Vol 41 (7) ◽  
pp. S21-S24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc-André Bédard ◽  
Hélène Scherer ◽  
Julie Delorimier ◽  
Emmanuel Stip ◽  
Pierre Lalonde

Objective: To illustrate the differential effects of D2- and D4-blocking neuroleptics on the procedural learning of patients with schizophrenia. Method: Twenty-nine schizophrenic patients were divided into 3 groups according to their pharmacological treatment: 1) drug naive, 2) haloperidol, and 3) clozapine. They were all assessed on clinical and procedural measures, the latter being the mirror drawing task. Results: All groups showed progressive learning over the successive trials, and drug-naive patients performed better than the other groups. Patients in the haloperidol group showed many fluctuations over trials, suggesting difficulty in the progressive automation of the task. Such fluctuations did not occur in the clozapine group, but performances per se were worse than in the other groups during the learning trials. A utomation of the task occurred at the same point (second block of trials) for all groups. Conclusion: These results suggest that D2- and D4-blocking neuroleptics do not similarly affect striatal dependent procedural learning in schizophrenia.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Chiharu Niki ◽  
Takashi Maruyama ◽  
Yoshihiro Muragaki ◽  
Takatsune Kumada

Background. Perseveration has been observed in a number of behavioural contexts, including speaking, writing, and drawing. However, no previous report describes patients who show perseveration only for drawing a human figure.Objective. The present report describes a group of patients who show body awareness-related cognitive impairment during a human figure drawing task, a different presentation from previously described neuropsychological cases.Methods. Participants were 15 patients who had a frontal lobe brain tumour around the insula cortex of the right hemisphere and had subsequently undergone a neurosurgical resective operation. Participants were asked to draw a human figure in both “hands-down” and “hands-up” configurations.Results. Eight of the 15 patients drew a human figure with six fingers during the “hands-up” and the “hands-down” human figure drawing tasks (one patient drew eight fingers). A statistical analysis of potential lesion areas revealed damage to the right anterior frontal insula and operculum in this group of patients relative to the five-finger drawing group.Conclusions. Our findings reveal a newly described neuropsychological phenomenon that could reflect impairment in attention directed towards body representations.


2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Su Hyoun Park ◽  
Chong In Nah ◽  
Eun Hee Ji ◽  
Min-Shik Kim

1995 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Williams ◽  
Keith Davids

This research examined whether skilled sports performers’ enhanced declarative knowledge base is a by-product of experience or a characteristic of expertise. Experienced high-skill (n = 12) and low-skill (n = 12) soccer players and physically disabled spectators (n = 12) were tested on soccer recall, recognition, and anticipation ability. MANCOVA showed that high-skill players demonstrated superior anticipatory performance compared with low-skill players, who in turn were better than physically disabled spectators. ANOVA showed that high-skill players demonstrated superior recall performance on structured trials only. Also, low-skill players were significantly better than physically disabled spectators on the structured trials. MANCOVA showed that high-skill players were better at recognizing structured and unstructured trials. No differences were found between low-skill players and physically disabled spectators. It appears that high-skill players possess a larger and more elaborate declarative knowledge base. Thus, declarative knowledge is a constituent of skill rather than a by-product of experience.


BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. e033199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua W Pate ◽  
Tim Noblet ◽  
Julia M Hush ◽  
Mark J. Hancock ◽  
Renee Sandells ◽  
...  

ObjectiveA person’s concept of pain can be defined as how they understand what pain actually is, what function it serves and what biological processes are thought to underpin it. This study aimed to explore the concept of pain in children with and without persistent pain.DesignIn-depth, face-to-face interviews with drawing tasks were conducted with 16 children (aged 8–12 years) in New South Wales, Australia. Thematic analysis was used to analyse and synthesise the data.SettingChildren with persistent pain were identified from a pain clinic waiting list in Australia, and children without pain were identified through advertising flyers and email bulletins at a university and hospital.ParticipantsEight children had persistent pain and eight children were pain free.ResultsFour themes emerged from the data: ‘my pain-related knowledge’, ‘pain in the world around me’, ‘pain in me’ and ‘communicating my concept of pain’. A conceptual framework of the potential interactions between the themes resulting from the analysis is proposed. The concept of pain of Australian children aged 8–12 years varied depending on their knowledge, experiences and literacy levels. For example, when undertaking a drawing task, children with persistent pain tended to draw emotional elements to describe pain, whereas children who were pain free did not.ConclusionsGaining an in-depth understanding of a child’s previous pain-related experiences and knowledge is important to facilitate clear and meaningful pain science education. The use of age-appropriate language, in combination with appropriate assessment and education tasks such as drawing and discussing vignettes, allowed children to communicate their individual concept of pain.


2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (7-5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanis Zafirah Kosnan ◽  
Norlaili Mat Safri ◽  
Nor Aini Zakaria ◽  
Puspa Inayat Khalid

This paper aims to investigate the functional connectivity in brain among young children during employment of preferred and non-preferred rule when drawing basic drawing task using Partial Directed Coherence (PDC) and to determine the most significant parameter in differentiating the two groups using handwriting dynamic features and brain activity based on statistical analysis and principle component analysis (PCA). Twelve subjects between 5 and 6 years old were selected randomly. All subjects were asked to gaze and trace four different unlined shapes. The brain signals were recorded using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine during drawing tasks. Result showed that subjects who employed preferred graphic rule (Control) when performing gazing and tracing tasks were better at visual processing when compared to those that used graphic rule in haphazard fashion. Besides, significant difference was found in frequency domain when subjects used graphic rule in rule governed fashion when compared to relaxing activity. The contrast was found when subject used graphic rule in haphazard fashion. Results from PCA showed most significant parameter (gamma/high gamma) in differentiating between the two groups (employed graphic rule vs. non-graphic) was found in tracing task.


Author(s):  
Fredrik U. Jönsson ◽  
Margareta Hedner ◽  
Mats J. Olsson

During study, people monitor their learning; the output of this monitoring is captured in so-called judgments of learning (JOLs). JOLs predict later recall better if they are made after a slight delay, instead of immediately after study (the delayed JOL effect). According to the self-fulfilling prophecy (SFP) hypothesis delayed JOLs are based on covert retrieval attempts from long-term memory, and successful retrieval attempts in themselves enhance learning (the testing effect). We compared memory for 40 Swahili-Swedish paired associates after a week as a function of three different learning conditions, namely study plus (i) explicitly instructed self-testing, (ii) delayed JOLs, or (iii) less self-testing. We showed that repeated delayed JOLs lead to a memory improvement that does not differ significantly from a comparable condition where the participants are explicitly testing memory, and both the latter groups performed reliably better than a group that self-tested less. The results suggest that delayed JOLs improve long-term retention as efficiently as explicit memory testing and lend support to the SFP hypothesis.


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