Is height a core geometric cue for navigation? Young children’s use of height in reorientation

Look up: Human adults use vertical height cues in reorientation

“…In contrast, children at this age could not use four identical objects, the 2-D form on the floor, or lines drawn on the floor to reorient, although these cues also provided the same rectangular configuration and horizontal distance cues as the bumps (Lee & Spelke, 2008. However, Hu et al (2015) found that children used the distance information from horizontal geometry at a younger age than the vertical distance information from wall height. In their study, 3-and 4-year-old children were tested in three different enclosures: a rectangular room with walls at the same height and a flat ceiling (where only geometric shape information was available), a square room with walls at different heights and a slanted ceiling (where only height cues were available), and a rectangular room with walls at different height and a slanted ceiling (where both geometric shape and height cues were available).…”

“…In their study, 3-and 4-year-old children were tested in three different enclosures: a rectangular room with walls at the same height and a flat ceiling (where only geometric shape information was available), a square room with walls at different heights and a slanted ceiling (where only height cues were available), and a rectangular room with walls at different height and a slanted ceiling (where both geometric shape and height cues were available). Hu et al (2015) found that both age groups could use geometric shape to find the hidden toy in the flat-ceiling rectangular room, but only 4-year-old children could use height to reorient in the two slanted-ceiling rooms. They suggested that the geometric shape of the environment takes priority over height cues during reorientation by children and that height may not be a component in the geometric module.…”

“…Slope cues are complex because they can provide orienting information through visual, proprioceptive, and kinesthetic modalities and from both the horizontal and vertical dimensions (Hu, Zhang, Wu, & Shao, 2015;Nardi et al, 2011). Only a few studies have explored the use of purely vertical information in humans.…”

“…A subsequent study showed that pigeons relied upon slope even when it was less predictive than horizontal geometry, and the authors argued that slope is given more weight because it is more salient (Nardi et al, 2010). The study by Hu et al (2015), however, suggested that horizontal geometry (specified as distance and left/right sense) was dominant over height cues for reorientation by human children because it was learned at a younger age.…”

“…The height cues used in our study differed in two ways from those used in Hu et al (2015). First, their study was conducted in rooms that had slanted ceilings, which meant that either the wall height or the angles formed by the ceiling and walls could potentially provide orienting cues, whereas our study was conducted in virtual rooms that had no ceilings and the height cues were provided purely by the height of the walls.…”