Coding Locations Relative to One or Many Landmarks in Childhood

Abstract

Cognitive development studies how information processing in the brain changes over the course of development. A key part of this question is how information is represented and stored in memory. This study examined allocentric (world-based) spatial memory, an important cognitive tool for planning routes and interacting with the space around us. This is typically theorized to use multiple landmarks all at once whenever it operates. In contrast, here we show that allocentric spatial memory frequently operates over a limited spatial window, much less than the full proximal scene, for children between 3.5 and 8.5 years old. The use of multiple landmarks increases gradually with age. Participants were asked to point to a remembered target location after a change of view in immersive virtual reality. A k-fold cross-validation model-comparison selected a model where young children usually use the target location’s vector to the single nearest landmark and rarely take advantage of the vectors to other nearby landmarks. The comparison models, which attempt to explain the errors as generic forms of noise rather than encoding to a single spatial cue, did not capture the distribution of responses as well. Parameter fits of this new single- versus multi-cue model are also easily interpretable and related to other variables of interest in development (age, executive function). Based on this, we theorize that spatial memory in humans develops through three advancing levels (but not strict stages): most likely to encode locations egocentrically (relative to the self), then allocentrically (relative to the world) but using only one landmark, and finally, most likely to encode locations relative to multiple parts of the scene.

Virtual Reality as a Tool to Understand Spatial Navigation

“…This is likely due to prior limitations in the accessibility of HMDs for children (e.g., fit and availability). One HMD study Negen et al (2019) tested 3 to 8 year olds on a perspective taking task where they had to point to a remembered location after being teleported to a new location in the environment (see Figure 8). They found support for a developmental progression of children encoding first relative to themselves, then to a single landmark in the world, and finally encoding relative to multiple landmarks in the scene.…”

Studying the Development of Navigation Using Virtual Environments

“…By 9-10 years, children performed with adult-like accuracy and often reported using the distal cues to guide their positioning (Laurance et al, 2003). Negen et al (2019) examined how 3-to 9-year-olds remember learned locations using the spatial information surrounding them with a virtual reality headset. The two VEs, called Jetty and Arctic, both had proximal landmarks, but only the Jetty also had a distal landscape and a circular boundary.…”

Merging familiar and new senses to perceive and act in space

“…by the hippocampus), or abilities to correctly select the relevant encoding (disregarding irrelevant cues or reference frames) is one key question for future research. Initial evidence that individual differences linked to inhibitory control are one predictor of performance (Negen et al 2019a ) suggests that not only encoding, but also selection plays a role. Evidence in the same study that a simpler environment shows earlier development also suggests a role for processes of attention and cue selection.…”

“…This leaves unclear the extent to which performance is poor because of (a) the absence of useful movement information, or (b) an incorrect reliance on the (erroneous) movement information that states that no viewpoint change has occurred. We saw that young children just mastering these tasks switch between the latter erroneous strategy and one that correctly disregards movement information (Negen and Nardini 2015 ), and that performance on a related task is predicted by individual differences in inhibitory control (Negen et al 2019a ). To more clearly determine how spatial signals and cues interact, a more recent approach (Cheng et al 2007 ) applies Bayesian decision theory to questions about how spatial information is combined.…”

“…Similarly, allocentric recall that can be based on roughly matching visual features emerges earlier than that requiring strict representation of spatial relationships (Nardini et al 2009). A VR study of 3-to-8-year olds' recall with respect to several distinct landmarks asked how abilities to coordinate these develop (Negen et al 2019a). The study looked for markers of performance beyond that explicable by use of just the single nearest landmark.…”