Keeping track of where we are: Spatial working memory in navigation

Blacker, Kara J.; Weisberg, Steven M.; Newcombe, Nora S.; Courtney, Susan

doi:10.1080/13506285.2017.1322652

Cited by 37 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…However, our goal was to determine if Relation and Location WM predict BOMAT performance while controlling for the other type of WM. We have used this approach elsewhere (Blacker, Weisberg, Newcombe, & Courtney, 2017) and argue that these partial correlations are evidence for a stronger relationship between Relation WM and BOMAT performance compared to Location WM and the BOMAT.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

N-back Versus Complex Span Working Memory Training

et al. 2017

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Working memory (WM) is the ability to maintain and manipulate task-relevant information in the absence of sensory input. While its improvement through training is of great interest, the degree to which WM training transfers to untrained WM tasks (near transfer) and other untrained cognitive skills (far transfer) remains debated and the mechanism(s) underlying transfer are unclear. Here we hypothesized that a critical feature of dual n-back training is its reliance on maintaining relational information in WM. In Experiment 1, using an individual differences approach, we found evidence that performance on an n-back task was predicted by performance on a measure of relational WM (i.e., WM for vertical spatial relationships independent of absolute spatial locations); whereas the same was not true for a complex span WM task. In Experiment 2, we tested the idea that reliance on relational WM is critical to produce transfer from n-back but not complex span task training. Participants completed adaptive training on either a dual n-back task, a symmetry span task, or on a non-WM active control task. We found evidence of near transfer for the dual n-back group; however, far transfer to a measure of fluid intelligence did not emerge. Recording EEG during a separate WM transfer task, we examined group-specific, training-related changes in alpha power, which are proposed to be sensitive to WM demands and top-down modulation of WM. Results indicated that the dual n-back group showed significantly greater frontal alpha power after training compared to before training, more so than both other groups. However, we found no evidence of improvement on measures of relational WM for the dual n-back group, suggesting that near transfer may not be dependent on relational WM. These results suggest that dual n-back and complex span task training may differ in their effectiveness to elicit near transfer as well as in the underlying neural changes they facilitate.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

N-back Versus Complex Span Working Memory Training

et al. 2017

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“…Variability in these non-hippocampally mediated cognitive components of navigation could then underlie performance on Virtual Silcton in a typical population. For example, we previously showed that variation in working memory relates to performance on within-route pointing performance (Blacker, Weisberg, Newcombe, & Courtney, 2017;Weisberg & Newcombe, 2016), a process which likely does not rely on hippocampal volume or even hippocampal function.…”

Section: Hippocampal Volume Correlates With Specific Skills Not Genementioning

confidence: 99%

Everyday taxi drivers: Do better navigators have larger hippocampi?

Weisberg

Newcombe

Chatterjee

2019

Cortex

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Work with non-human animals and human navigation experts (London taxi drivers) suggests that the size of the hippocampus, particularly the right posterior hippocampus in humans, relates to navigation expertise. Similar observations, sometimes implicating other sections of the hippocampus, have been made for aging populations and for people with neurodegenerative diseases that affect the hippocampus. These data support the hypothesis that hippocampal volume

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“…Virtual environment navigation paradigms overcome this challenge. One paradigm—Virtual Silcton—has been used with hundreds of participants of varying ages (Blacker, Weisberg, Newcombe, & Courtney, 2017; Galati, Weisberg, Newcombe, & Avraamides, 2017; Nazareth, Weisberg, Margulis & Newcombe, 2018; Weisberg & Newcombe, 2016; Weisberg, Schinazi, Newcombe, Shipley, & Epstein, 2014). In Virtual Silcton, participants explore a virtual environment modeled along the lines of a college campus comprising two main routes and two connecting routes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond small-scale spatial skills: Navigation skills and geoscience education

et al. 2019

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Background Research examining the relation between spatial skills and the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields has focused on small-scale spatial skills, even though some STEM disciplines—particularly the geography and geoscience (GEO) fields—involve large-scale spatial thinking at the core of their professional training. In Study 1, we compared large-scale navigation skills of experienced geologists with those of experienced psychologists, using a novel virtual navigation paradigm as an objective measure of navigation skills. In Study 2, we conducted a longitudinal study with novice Geographic Information Systems (GIS) students to investigate baseline navigational competence and improvement over the course of an academic semester. Results In Study 1, we found that geologists demonstrated higher navigational competence and were more likely to be categorized as integrating separate routes, compared to their non-STEM counterparts. In Study 2, novice GIS students showed superior baseline navigational competence compared to non-STEM students, as well as better spatial working memory and small-scale mental rotation skills, indicating self-selection. In addition, GIS students’ spatial skills improved more over the course of a semester than those of non-STEM students. Conclusions Our findings highlight the importance of large-scale spatial thinking for enrollment and success in the GEO fields but likely also across the broader range of thinking involving spatial distributions. We discuss the potential of GIS tools to develop spatial skills at an early age.

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Keeping track of where we are: Spatial working memory in navigation

Cited by 37 publications

References 37 publications

N-back Versus Complex Span Working Memory Training

N-back Versus Complex Span Working Memory Training

Everyday taxi drivers: Do better navigators have larger hippocampi?

Beyond small-scale spatial skills: Navigation skills and geoscience education

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