Spatial Thinking - Psychology Lecture by Daniel C. Hyde - PDF

Spatial Thinking Daniel C. Hyde Psychology 216 Psyc 216  Overview Spatial Perception Spatial Representation/Navigation Space, Language, and Symbols Navigation: Role of Experience and Aging Psyc 216  Spatial Perception Se...

Spatial Thinking Daniel C. Hyde Psychology 216 Psyc 216  Overview Spatial Perception Spatial Representation/Navigation Space, Language, and Symbols Navigation: Role of Experience and Aging Psyc 216  Spatial Perception Sensing our position with respect to objects and landmarks around us – E.g. Which things are closer to us/which things are farther away – Dependent, in part, on both… Pictorial (monocular) cues – Information obtained from single eye Binocular cues (e.g., stereopsis) – Combination of information from slightly different points of view from each eye » Allow Depth Perception Psyc 216  Converging Lines Occlusion Monocular cues like occlusion, relative size, converging lines help us perceive how things are spatially arranged in our environment Psyc 216 Relative Size  Binocular cues Retinal disparity – Different angles from each eye allow you to see more of the object – (finger demo 1*) Convergence – Contraction/relaxation of eye muscles to focus on objects give information on distance – (finger demo 2*) Psyc 216  Binocular Cues/Depth Perception Animal studies (Held & Hein, etc.) show that depth perception is experience-expectant (requires general visual experience) – Critical period for its development Present very early in humans – Even young infants have the ability to perceive depth Psyc 216  Thinking about Spatial Navigation What cues/information do you use to navigate when walking or driving (if you can not use GPS)? – How do you find your way home from class? – How do you find your way around a new part of an otherwise familiar town? – How do you find your way back to your hotel in a new city after a long walk? – Think about a time you have gotten lost. How do you reorient yourself when you get lost? Psyc 216  Mental Maps Humans (and other animals) form several different types of “mental maps” – A mental representation organized in relation to the physical-spatial environment Psyc 216  Mental Map Example 1: Mental Imagery (Kosslyn, 1973) Participants studied map and were asked questions about it afterward from memory E.g., Imagine you are at the tree, now move to the lake and tell me when you get there/ Time it took to answer questions about relative positions of landmarks on island depended on their actual physical distance Suggested that people were “navigating” a mental image in their brain that maintained spatial distance to some Psyc 216 extent  Mental Map Example 2: Mental Map in Rats (Tolman et al., 1946) Psyc 216  What kinds of mental maps do we have of our environment? 3 types of mental maps for navigation – Mental map of distance & direction: Path Integration Feeling/intuition of direction/distance/speed – Mental map of geometry (shape) of surroundings Larger scale shape of environment – Mental map of landmarks Particular/distinctive spatial points Psyc 216  Path integration Psyc 216  Navigation via Path Integration (Muller & Wehner, 1988) food nest Psyc 216 How does the ant find its way home?  Path Integration in Ants How do they accomplish this feat? 1. By external cues (odor, visible landmarks, sun, etc.)? 2 Internal representation (distance, direction, etc)? food release point Internal representation external cues nest *** Psyc 216  Path Integration in Ants Results: Ants navigate by internal representations: go straight to location where nest would have been, then search Accuracy: on 500 m outward journey: direction ± 2° distance ± 10% Psyc 216  Where does path integration come from? Learned through experience or innate? Chicks tested after hatching and geese tested on first journey from the nest both succeed at path integration tasks (similar to ant tests). No real learning needed in these animals Existence proof of innate path integration abilities What about humans? Psyc 216  Navigation Demo (can you use path integration?) Psyc 216  Path Integration in Human Children (5-year-old children) 1st: “here’s your basket” 3rd: “here’s your toy” ? TEST QUESTION: “can you put your toy ? in the basket?” 2nd: “here’s the chair” Psyc 216 (Landau, Gleitman, & Spelke )  Path Integration in Children: Results 5-year-old children can successfully accomplish this task blindfolded – Doesn’t require immediate vision – Learned through previous visual navigation experience? Blind child (Kelli) tested at age 5 – Performed just as well as children who had received typical visual input throughout life. – Suggests spatial representation/path integration is not dependent on visual experience/visual learning Psyc 216 (Landau, Gleitman, & Spelke )  Path integration System Present in humans and many other animals Allows distance and direction to be tracked for navigation Not based on landmarks (although can be aided by them) Does not require vision or visual experience May require locomotor experience (needs to be tested) Psyc 216  Limits to Path integration: yields no enduring representations of the environment. It requires that information be actively maintained. – if animal loses track, lost – limits on numbers of places we can track – accumulating error Psyc 216  More Enduring Representations of Space Two different navigation systems that do not have the same limits as path integration: – 1. a system for representing one's own location by analyzing the shape of the environment. – 2. a system for representing other locations by analyzing the location of landmarks. Psyc 216  What external cues do children use to navigate? Hidden toy METHOD: Reorientation studies in young children (18-24 months) Psyc 216  What external cues do children use to navigate? Geometry? Predictions If they do not use geometry,…. If they do use geometry,…. Hidden toy Hidden toy If yes,…. 25% 25% 0% 50% 25% 25% 0% 50% If they fail to use the geometrical If they use the geometrical shape of shape of the room to find the the room to find the hidden toy, hidden toy, they should search they should search equally in two equally in all four corners geometrically equivalent corners, because there are no other cues and much less (or not at all) in the Psyc 216 other two corners  Reorientation Example Psyc 216  Actual reorientation results: Use geometry/shape of the room to navigate Hidden toy 2% 57% Adults 41% 0% Hidden toy 10% 39% *Geometric Errors* Children Young children (~2 years and adults) reorient to the shape 39% 12% of the room Psyc 216  What about other features of the room? Hidden toy Introduce Red Wall Can they combine the feature (red wall) with the geometry of the room? Psyc 216  Do children use features in combination with the shape of environment to reorient? Adults Adults do integrate 0% 96% features with shape of the room to reorient. 4% 0% Children Younger children (~2 8% 31% Is this because they don’t years) do not readily notice the red wall? integrate features of the room with shape NO. Children can successfully to reorient find item when hidden at the 49% 12% base/middle of the red wall. Psyc 216  Limits to reorientation in children X Can reorient by shape X X Can reorient by feature Fail to combine them early in development Psyc 216  Spatial representation studies show… Adults and children use the shape of environment and landmarks to reorient themselves in space Younger children are unable to use the combination of the shape of environment and landmarks to reorient themselves – Suggests systems for landmarks and shape are distinct earlier in development Is it possible that sensitivity to shape for navigation is innate? – Can’t test humans at birth because they can’t move Psyc 216 around/search  Origins of sensitivity to layout geometry Chicks reared in either a rectangular room or circular room (Chiandetti & Vallortigara, 2008) Then both groups tested on reorientation in the rectangular room: X X Both groups show search behavior in two geometrically equivalent corners. Sensitivity to layout shape is independent of visual experience of corners in chicks. Another existence proof innateness. Psyc 216  Navigation Summary & Limits Guided by three distinct spatial abilities – Ability to estimate position based on path integration Limited by errors in estimation and memory constraints – Ability to orient based on landmarks (at least early in development and in animals) unable to integrate with shape of layout – Ability to orient based on shape of the layout Not sensitive to all geometric properties that could be used for navigation (like angle). Abilities arise early in human development, are shared with many other animals, and show similar limitations in other animals Psyc 216 How are spatial maps be implemented in the brain? Hippocampus seems to be one area of great importance for navigation Psyc 216  Hippocampal ‘Grid Cells’ in the Rat Certain cells fire in a spatial grid-like fashion as the rat moves in the environment Allows a coordinate type map of environment Different cells have slightly shifted grids Psyc 216  Grid Cells in the Human Jacobs et al., 2013 Likely aid in the calculation of spatial distance, direction, speed, and position (path integration) Psyc 216  Hippocampal ‘Place Cells’ In The Rat Certain cells in the hippocampus fire most to certain locations and not to other locations Psyc 216 O’Keefe and others Psyc 216  Place Cells In Rats (O’Keefe & Burgess, 1996) Cell 1: Responds to Cell 3: Responds to bottom southwest Cell 2: Responds to bottom north corner bottom west boundary boundary Firing patterns of place cells maintain same relative position over changes in size/shape of environment Psyc 216  Place Cells in Humans Human hippocampus/para-hippocampus contains place cells May allow representation and memory of shape of the Psyc 216 environment/relative position of landmarks (Ekstrom et al., 2003)  Spatial Navigation Cells in the Hippocampus Grid cells allow distance and direction to be used to determine position (i.e., path integration) Place cells may be used to represent shape of the environment and location of features (i.e., landmarks) 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology (O’Keefe, Moser, & Moser) Psyc 216  Space, language, and symbols How do spatial abilities change over development? – How are our spatial abilities enhanced by uniquely human symbolic and linguistic abilities? – Symbolic Maps Simple geometric maps – Spatial Language Use with reorientation Psyc 216  Symbolic Map Use Symbolic tools to convey spatial information (where things are in relation to each other) Requires dual representation – Item must be represented in two ways at the same time – Must be compared/put into alignment to be useful May be further aided by use of language Psyc 216  First step in using a map Understanding that a picture (or object) can stand for something else Deloache Experiments: presented infants aged 9-18 months with realistic photographs of common objects Do they understand that the picture of an object is not itself THE OBJECT? Psyc 216  Developmental changes in grasping objects in pictures Early in development, infants seem confused by pictures and their relation to the objects they depict, despite clear capacities for 3D space perception By 1.5 years, children are coming to understand that pictures represent objects but are not themselves objects 9 15 19 (months) Psyc 216  Next step in using a map 100 Understanding the map is a 90 spatial representation for a correct retrievals (%) 80 given environment 70 60 point to picture 50 point to room DeLoache and colleagues 40 30 – Presented children aged 2 20 and 2.5 years with a realistic 10 photograph of a room. 0 2 years 2.5 years – Pointed to the location in the photograph Between 2 and 2.5 years of age, “Here is where the doll is children come to understand hiding in the room.” that pictures can provide – Asked children to find the doll information about the scenes they depict. Psyc 216 Symbolic Representations of Space  Language and spatial representation 13% 42% We already talked about how…younger children do not Children (3-4 years) integrate features of the room with shape 33% 12% to reorient But, …older 8% 65% children do integrate features with shape of the Children (5.5-6.5 years) room to reorient. 24% 3% Psyc 216  Spatial vocabulary use predicts performance on reorientation task (Hermer-Vasquez et al., 2001) Significant relationship between production of left/right terms and Performance on Reorient. Task performance on reorientation task Suggests a supportive role of spatial (left/right) language in combining Left/Right word production landmarks and shape of the environment Psyc 216  Further evidence for a role of language in combining spatial systems Correlation or causation between spatial language and reorientation? Adults-dual task paradigm during reorientation (Hermer et al., 1999) – Perform reorientation and… a demanding verbal shadowing task (to tax to the language system) OR a non-verbal attentional task of equal difficulty (to tax the attention system) – Results: verbal shadowing impaired reorientation performance/non- verbal attention task did not Language facilitates the combination of landmark and geometrical shape information Impairing/taxing the language system leads to impairment in reorientation Psyc 216  Individual Differences in Navigation (see Spiers et al., 2022 for review) Individual differences in VR navigation correlate with real life navigation abilities – Spiers et al dataset with N > 3 million participants worldwide – VR can be used to test navigation abilities on very large scale Psyc 216  Navigation at global scale: Age, gender, wealth & education matter (see Spiers et al., 2022 for review) Navigation declines with age (from ~20 years on) Growing up in rural areas = better navigators Economic wealth of country (GDP) correlates with navigation abilities – Countries with more public transit worse (e.g., European countries) compared to countries with more cars (e.g., U.S.) – Countries that educate children on navigation (i.e., orienteering) best navigators (e.g., Nordic countries) Gender differences, but varied by country – Better performance for men – But, varied greatly by country (e.g., smallest/no gender gap in Norway; largest in Argentina) – Determined by gender inequality of country (World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index, GGI), even after controlling for GDP. Psyc 216  Navigation, Memory, and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) (see Spiers et al., 2022 for review) Memory Disorders (i.e., AD) characterized by deficits in hippocampal memory system – Early behavioral symptom of getting lost/disoriented VR navigation game as a potential method of detection of Alzheimer’s (Sea Hero Quest) VR navigation performance predicts early symptoms of Alzheimer’s – Neuropsychological assessments – A potential way to detect Alzheimer’s earlier Psyc 216  Spatial Development Conclusions Space perception/depth perception develops very early in development (see upcoming lectures) Spatial Action (navigation) is guided by 3 core abilities: path integration, the ability to orient based on landmarks, and the ability to orient based on the shape of the environment Core spatial navigation is enhanced by the uniquely human ability to use symbols and language Spatial navigation abilities are influenced by the environment; deficits may be a marker of disease Psyc 216