Exploration patterns shape cognitive map learning

Brunec, Iva K.; Nantais, Melissa M; Sutton, Jeannette; Epstein, Russell A.; Newcombe, Nora S.

doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105360

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 75 publications

(83 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Crucially, not all participants demonstrated integration early in the Global Task, suggesting that cognitive map formation may not be a ‘default’ that incidentally emerges during performance of immersive, goal-directed local navigation. An open question is: How does this variability in whether and how individuals build global knowledge of the environment during local navigation relate to individual differences in spatial and mnemonic processing, in navigational strategy, and/or in other cognitive and contextual factors ( Weisberg and Newcombe, 2016 ; Weisberg and Newcombe, 2018 ; Wolbers and Hegarty, 2010 ; Brunec et al, 2022 )? The current study was limited in its investigation of individual differences due to sample size.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Representational integration and differentiation in the human hippocampus following goal-directed navigation

Fernandez

Jiang

Wang

et al. 2023

eLife

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As we learn, dynamic memory processes build structured knowledge across our experiences. Such knowledge enables the formation of internal models of the world that we use to plan, make decisions, and act. Recent theorizing posits that mnemonic mechanisms of differentiation and integration – which at one level may seem to be at odds – both contribute to the emergence of structured knowledge. We tested this possibility using fMRI as human participants learned to navigate within local and global virtual environments over the course of 3 days. Pattern similarity analyses on entorhinal cortical and hippocampal patterns revealed evidence that differentiation and integration work concurrently to build local and global environmental representations, and that variability in integration relates to differences in navigation efficiency. These results offer new insights into the neural machinery and the underlying mechanisms that translate experiences into structured knowledge that allows us to navigate to achieve goals.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Representational integration and differentiation in the human hippocampus following goal-directed navigation

Fernandez

Jiang

Wang

et al. 2023

eLife

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For instance, younger adults who learned a large‐scale virtual environment by traveling along two separate routes showed individual differences in acquiring spatial information for landmarks along one route, which were correlated with but distinct from their ability to integrate between the two routes (Weisberg et al, 2014; Weisberg & Newcombe, 2016). When allowed to learn the environment by freely navigating, these individual differences were modulated by exploration patterns which maximized the time spent in areas with high connectivity (a spatial syntax measure; Brunec et al, 2023). Promoting spatial integration by encouraging effective exploration or by attending to landmarks which connect various sections of an environment to one another could be a fruitful way of scaffolding spatial mapping.…”

Section: Spatial Mapping—where Do I Go?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Getting LOST: A conceptual framework for supporting and enhancing spatial navigation in aging

Weisberg,

Ebner,

Seidler

2023

WIRES Cognitive Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Spatial navigation is more difficult and effortful for older than younger individuals, a shift which occurs for a variety of neurological, physical, and cognitive reasons associated with aging. Despite a large body of evidence documenting age‐related deficits in spatial navigation, comparatively less research addresses how to facilitate more effective navigation behavior for older adults. Since navigation challenges arise for a variety of reasons in old age, a one‐size‐fits‐all solution is unlikely to work. Here, we introduce a framework for the variety of spatial navigation challenges faced in aging, which we call LOST—Location, Orientation, Spatial mapping, and Transit. The LOST framework builds on evidence from the cognitive neuroscience of spatial navigation, which reveals distinct components underpinning human wayfinding. We evaluate research on navigational aids—devices and depictions—which help people find their way around; and we reflect on how navigation aids solve (or fail to solve) specific wayfinding difficulties faced by older adults. In summary, we emphasize a bespoke approach to improving spatial navigation in aging, which focuses on tailoring navigation solutions to specific navigation challenges. Our hope is that by providing precise support to older navigators, navigation opportunities can facilitate independence and exploration, while minimizing the danger of becoming lost. We conclude by delineating critical knowledge gaps in how to improve older adults' spatial navigation capacities that the novel LOST framework could guide to address.This article is categorized under: Psychology > Development and Aging Neuroscience > Cognition Neuroscience > Behavior

show abstract

“…More specifically, empirical studies have suggested that study-level variables, including environments with different complexities (Wallet et al, 2008) and feature presentations (Wallet et al, 2011), exploration using different interfaces (Sun et al, 2004), and variation in navigation instructions (Von Stülpnagel & Steffens, 2013), may affect the outcomes of spatial learning. Also, exploration behaviours that differ across individuals have been found to correlate with performance in spatial tasks (Brunec et al, 2023). As additional effect sizes become available along with open access to experimental materials, future analysis should explore the possibilities of identifying other moderators and deriving coding schemes that can group the effect sizes unambiguously.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Much empirical evidence from the existing literature suggests that spatial knowledge differs considerably across participants with different individual characteristics, such as age, gender, and spatial abilities (Jansen et al, 2010; Nazareth et al, 2019; Richardson et al, 1999; Wen et al, 2013). Moreover, external factors related to the learned environment and spatial learning process, including exploration patterns and navigation aids, have been demonstrated to account for the varied performance in measures of spatial knowledge (Brunec et al, 2023; Löwen et al, 2019; Willis et al, 2009). Following this research direction, whether active exploration benefits spatial learning over passive exploration and if so, by what extent, has received much attention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Active and passive exploration for spatial knowledge acquisition: A meta-analysis

Qin

Karimi

2023

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Literature reported mixed evidence on whether active exploration benefits spatial knowledge acquisition over passive exploration. Active spatial learning typically involves at least physical control of one’s movement or navigation decision-making, while passive participants merely observe during exploration. To quantify the effects of active exploration in learning large-scale, unfamiliar environments, we analysed previous findings with the multi-level meta-analytical model. Potential moderators were identified and examined for their contributions to the variability in effect sizes. Of the 128 effect sizes retrieved from 33 experiments, we observed a small to moderate advantage of active exploration over passive observation. Important moderators include gender composition, decision-making, types of spatial knowledge, and matched visual information. We discussed the implications of the results along with the limitations.

show abstract

Exploration patterns shape cognitive map learning

Cited by 15 publications

References 75 publications

Representational integration and differentiation in the human hippocampus following goal-directed navigation

Representational integration and differentiation in the human hippocampus following goal-directed navigation

Getting LOST: A conceptual framework for supporting and enhancing spatial navigation in aging

Active and passive exploration for spatial knowledge acquisition: A meta-analysis

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About