In this study, we compared cognitive map formation of small-scale models of city-like environments presented in visual or tactile/haptic modalities. Previous research often addresses only a limited amount of cognitive map aspects. We wanted to combine several of these aspects to elucidate a more complete view. Therefore, we assessed different types of spatial information, and consider egocentric as well as allocentric perspectives. Furthermore, we compared haptic map learning with visual map learning. In total 18 sighted participants (9 in a haptic condition, 9 visuo-haptic) learned three tactile maps of city-like environments. The maps differed in complexity, and had five marked locations associated with unique items. Participants estimated distances between item pairs, rebuilt the map, recalled locations, and navigated two routes, after learning each map. All participants overall performed well on the spatial tasks. Interestingly, only on the complex maps, participants performed worse in the haptic condition than the visuo-haptic, suggesting no distinct advantage of vision on the simple map. These results support ideas of modality-independent representations of space. Although it is less clear on the more complex maps, our findings indicate that participants using only haptic or a combination of haptic and visual information both form a quite accurate cognitive map of a simple tactile city-like map.
The human brain can form cognitive maps of a spatial environment, which can support wayfinding. In this study, we investigated cognitive map formation of an environment presented in the tactile modality, in visually impaired and sighted persons. In addition, we assessed the acquisition of route and survey knowledge. Ten persons with a visual impairment (PVIs) and ten sighted control participants learned a tactile map of a city-like environment. The map included five marked locations associated with different items. Participants subsequently estimated distances between item pairs, performed a direction pointing task, reproduced routes between items and recalled item locations. In addition, we conducted questionnaires to assess general navigational abilities and the use of route or survey strategies. Overall, participants in both groups performed well on the spatial tasks. Our results did not show differences in performance between PVIs and sighted persons, indicating that both groups formed an equally accurate cognitive map. Furthermore, we found that the groups generally used similar navigational strategies, which correlated with performance on some of the tasks, and acquired similar and accurate route and survey knowledge. We therefore suggest that PVIs are able to employ a route as well as survey strategy if they have the opportunity to access route-like as well as map-like information such as on a tactile map.
The hippocampus is a key region for forming mental maps of our environment. These maps represent spatial information such as distances between landmarks. A cognitive map can allow for flexible inference of spatial relationships that have never been directly experienced before. Previous work has shown that the human hippocampus encodes distances between locations, but it is unclear how Euclidean and path distances are distinguished. In this study, participants performed an object-location task in a virtual environment. We combined functional magnetic resonance imaging with representational similarity analysis to test how Euclidean and path distances are represented in the hippocampus. We observe that hippocampal neural pattern similarity for objects scales with Euclidean as well as path distance between object locations, suggesting that the hippocampus integrates both types of distances. One key characteristic of cognitive maps is their adaptive and flexible nature. We therefore subsequently modified path distances between objects using roadblocks in the environment. We found that hippocampal pattern similarity between objects adapted as a function of these changes in path distance, selectively in egocentric navigators but not in allocentric navigators Taken together, our study supports the idea that the hippocampus creates integrative and flexible cognitive maps.
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