A serious game to explore human foraging in a 3D environment

Prpic, Valter; Kniestedt, Isabelle; Camilleri, Elizabeth; Maureira, Marcello A. Gómez; Kristjánsson, Árni; Thornton, Ian M.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0219827

Cited by 20 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 54 publications

(82 reference statements)

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“…In two recent papers, we introduced the concept of "foraging tempo" and speculated that the rate of successive target selections helps determine patterns of run behavior in multiple target search (Prpic et al, 2019;. Specifically, our analysis of previous studies showed that the tendency to switch randomly between target categories was more common when the interval between responses was longer.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Foraging Tempo: Human run patterns in multiple target search are constrained by the rate of successive responses.

Thornton¹,

Nguyen²,

Kristjánsson³

2020

Preprint

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Human foraging tasks are beginning to provide new insights into the roles of vision, attention and working memory during complex search, particularly with respect to individual differences. Here, we test the idea that “foraging tempo” -- the rate of successive target selections -- helps determine patterns of behaviour in these tasks. Previously, we established that the majority of target selections during unconstrained foraging happen at regular, rapid intervals, forming the “cruise phase” of a foraging trial. Furthermore, we noted that when the temporal interval between cruise phase responses was longer, the tendency to switch between target categories increased. To directly explore this relationship, we modified our standard iPad foraging task so that observers had to synchronize each response with an auditory metronome signal. Across trials, we increased the tempo and examined how this changed patterns of foraging when targets were defined either by a single feature or by a conjunction of features. The results were very clear. Increasing tempo systematically decreased the tendency for participants to switch between target categories. While this was true for both feature and conjunction trials, there was also evidence that time constraints and target complexity interacted. As in our previous work, we also observed clear individual differences in how participants responded to changes in task difficulty. Overall, our results show that foraging tempo does influence the way participants respond, and we suggest this parameter may prove be useful in further explorations of group and individual strategies during multiple target search.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kristjánsson et al, 2014;T. Kristjánsson et al, 2018; and 3D (T. Prpic et al, 2019) cancellation tasks to explore human foraging under conditions of varying attentional load. This work was directly inspired by the animal foraging literature (Dawkins, 1971;Heinrich et al, 1977;Jackson & Li, 2004;Pietrewicz & Kamil, 1979;Tinbergen, 1960).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foraging Tempo: Human run patterns in multiple target search are constrained by the rate of successive responses.

Thornton¹,

Nguyen²,

Kristjánsson³

2020

Preprint

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“…We suggested that adding time pressure in this way changed levels of concentration, facilitating switching. Similarly, when we explicitly controlled the tempo at which participants were allowed to respond , we found that the majority were able to switch frequently given sufficient time between selection events (see also Prpic et al, 2019;Thornton et al, 2019). These findings suggest that the use of extended runs in our original iPad tasks occurred, at least in part, because participants chose to prioritize response speed, making switching under conjunction conditions more effortful (Gray et al, 2006;Gray & Boehm-Davis, 2000;Gray & Fu, 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…In our previous work, we have used simple, game-like 2D (e.g., Jóhannesson et al, 2016Jóhannesson et al, , 2017Á. Kristjánsson et al, 2014;Thornton et al, 2019) and 3D (T. Kristjánsson, Draschkow, et al, 2020;Prpic et al, 2019) tasks to explore such foraging behaviour in humans. As noted above, these studies form part of a more general research trend exploring multiple-target visual search in humans (e.g., Cain et al, 2012;Fougnie et al, 2015;Gilchrist et al, 2001;Hills et al, 2012Hills et al, , 2013Pellicano et al, 2011;Wolfe, 2013;Wolfe et al, 2016Wolfe et al, , 2019.…”

Section: Attention and Human Foragingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Predation Game: Does dividing attention affect patterns of human foraging?

Thornton¹,

Tagu²,

Zdravković³

et al. 2020

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Attention is known to play an important role in shaping the behaviour of both human and animal foragers. Here, in two experiments, we built on our previous interactive tasks to create an online foraging game for studying divided attention in human participants exposed to the (simulated) risk of predation. Participants used a “sheep” object to collect items from different target categories randomly distributed across the display. Each trial also contained “wolf” objects, whose movement was inspired by classic studies of multiple object tracking. For “hunted” participants, collision with any wolf terminated the trial, making the need to monitor and avoid the predators crucial to success. For “distracted” participants, the wolf objects did not interact with the sheep, and could effectively be ignored. In Experiment 1, we used an established Feature/Conjunction manipulation to vary the difficulty of target selection. In Experiment 2, we varied the value and the prevalence of target items to examine potential trade-offs between risk and reward. In both experiments, we found very clear differences between the foraging patterns of hunted versus distracted participants. We were also able to replicate basic foraging patterns associated with target complexity and reward, respectively. Unexpectedly, hunted participants did not show a tendency to restricting their search to a single category, the hallmark of attention limited foraging. Rather, they were more likely to select from all available categories, compared to the distracted participants. Such behaviour is consistent with the idea that risk of predation in our task modulated levels of alertness/arousal, counteracting the costs of having to both select targets and monitor for wolves. While the effects of phasic changes in alertness and arousal are well captured in standard capacity models of attention and are also central to recent attempts to explain individual differences in human performance they do not as yet play a major role in the attention models applied to either human or animal foraging.

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“…Over the past years, there has been a growth in software applications that combine game-like features with health related goals such as diagnosis of cognitive impairments. Spatial cognition in particular, lends itself well to serious-gaming adaptations as illustrated by applications such as ''Sea Hero Quest'' (Coutrot et al, 2018), ''Navigeren kun je leren'' and ''Squirrel away'' (Prpic et al, 2019). While substantial progress is being made in regards to the diagnosis of spatial impairments using these tools, the validity of treatment applications has yet to be explored.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effectiveness of Home-Based Training Software Designed to Influence Strategic Navigation Preferences in Healthy Subjects

Kuil

Evers

Visser-Meily

et al. 2020

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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One approach to the rehabilitation of navigation impairments is to train the use of compensatory egocentric or allocentric navigation strategies. Yet, it is unknown whether and to what degree training programs can influence strategic navigation preferences. In validating this approach, the key assumption that strategic preference can be changed by using a navigation training was assessed in a group of healthy participants (n = 82). The training program consisted of a psychoeducation session and a software package that included either allocentric or egocentric navigation exercises in virtual environments. Strategic navigation preference, objective and self-reported spatial abilities were assessed in pre-and post-training sessions. Based on their pre-training strategic preference, participants received either the egocentric training (n = 19) or the allocentric training (n = 21) version of the training. These participants engaged in four training sessions over a period of 2-3 weeks. The second group of participants did not use the training software (n = 43) and served as a control group. The results show that 50% of participants that received the egocentric training shifted from an allocentric to and an egocentric strategic preference. The proportion of participants that switched their strategic preference as a result of the allocentric training was identical to this proportion in the control group (19%). The training did not affect objective and self-reported navigation abilities as measured in the pre-and post-training sessions. We conclude that strategic navigation preferences can be influenced by using home-based training in healthy participants. However, using the current approach, only a preference shift from an allocentric to an egocentric navigation strategy could be achieved. The effectiveness of this navigation strategy training should next be assessed in relevant patient populations.

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A serious game to explore human foraging in a 3D environment

Cited by 20 publications

References 54 publications

Foraging Tempo: Human run patterns in multiple target search are constrained by the rate of successive responses.

Foraging Tempo: Human run patterns in multiple target search are constrained by the rate of successive responses.

The Predation Game: Does dividing attention affect patterns of human foraging?

The Effectiveness of Home-Based Training Software Designed to Influence Strategic Navigation Preferences in Healthy Subjects

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