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The interaction of transient and enduring spatial representations: Using visual cues to maintain perceptual engagement

Hodgson, Eric P.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1217959226

Abstract Details

2008, Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, Psychology.
Four experiments are reported that investigate the role of visual cues in keeping people perceptually engaged in their environments in a classic spatial updating task. These experiments replicated Wang and Spelke's (2000, Exps. 4 & 5) finding that a continually available visual gradient was sufficient to allow people to maintain baseline levels of performance after an otherwise disorienting rotation. In contrast, people who could view the gradient during testing phases but not during the rotation responded slower and showed decreased levels of pointing precision after rotation despite having accurate perceptual information about their final heading. This paradigm was extended to show that continuously-available perceptual information was not necessary to keep participants perceptually engaged. Brief, intermittent glimpses of the environment (i.e., a visual fix) enabled people to maintain baseline levels of performance after rotation as long as the visual fixes were given every 75°; wider visual fix intervals were ineffective. Finally, it was demonstrated that a sufficiently rich visual cue that was visible during testing, but not during a disorienting rotation, could effectively re-engage people's perceptual awareness of unseen target's locations. Participants in this condition pointed as quickly and precisely as when they were able to perceive the visual cue throughout the entire rotation. The results of these experiments are discussed in the context of a two-systems framework of spatial cognition recently espoused by Burgess (2006) and others. Across experiments, trends in spatial updating performance were used to explore how transient and enduring spatial representations interact to enable flexible, robust performance in spatial tasks.
David A. Waller (Advisor)
Joseph G. Johnson (Committee Member)
Peter M. Wessels (Committee Member)
William P. Berg (Committee Member)
80 p.
Psychology
spatial; spatial cognition; spatial updating; spatial memory; spatial representation; navigation; memory; place memory; location memory

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Hodgson, E. P. (2008). The interaction of transient and enduring spatial representations: Using visual cues to maintain perceptual engagement [Doctoral dissertation, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1217959226

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Hodgson, Eric. The interaction of transient and enduring spatial representations: Using visual cues to maintain perceptual engagement. 2008. Miami University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1217959226.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Hodgson, Eric. "The interaction of transient and enduring spatial representations: Using visual cues to maintain perceptual engagement." Doctoral dissertation, Miami University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1217959226

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1217959226
393
© 2008, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.